


Splinters

by SrebrnaFH



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: AU, Additional Swan sisters, Emma and Elsa are sisters, F/M, Mistaken Identity, Triplets, only not really, very slow
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-07
Updated: 2017-12-12
Packaged: 2019-02-11 22:36:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 44,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12945501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SrebrnaFH/pseuds/SrebrnaFH
Summary: There was more then one basket out there, in the woods, and poor little boy had to get more than one little girl to safety. What if that girl was, growing up, never actually alone? And if she had the very best friends she could ever have, always with her?





	1. Where dark woods hide secrets

**Author's Note:**

> This is a WIP (30 chapters written so far), I'm afraid. It may take a bit of time before I get it properly finished, but I hope, in the meanwhile, someone may enjoy reading the parts that are done.
> 
> This is an AU, and as I hate authors who explain their special concept in the AN with a lot of drama, I'll just leave it at that. Everyone we love and hate will show up (when needed), plus an OC I hope you'll like.
> 
> No comment blackmail here, but if you tell me what you think, I'll know how to make the next chapters better!
> 
> Also: I'm not native English speaker, so if you see something that just doesn't sound natural in English, please let me know. I'm not averse to concrit. I actually *love* concrit.

He slowly picked himself up from the forest floor.

_Ick_.

His daddy always told him to keep himself clean. This wasn't even remotely clean. This was mushy, mouldy and moist. Whole seat of his pants was covered in mud and there was nothing around that he could try to use to clean himself off. Just lots of decaying fall plants in a very leafy forest.

And he had to move.

His task, given by the two most important people in his life, was to find the basket and to get help for all of them.

Fortunately babies made noise, so he found the basket very quickly. Only it wasn't the basket he wanted.

There was only one baby in it and it seemed there had never been a second one there.

Which meant now he had one baby and still had to find two more.

* * *

In a short time he was burdened with two baskets, for the total count of three tiny, squealing girls.

He dragged one basket twenty steps, left it there, went back for the other one, dragged it a bit ahead, went back...

He had to find some people before darkness or the babies would become ill. Or even die.

His hands were shaking and he felt a stitch in his side when he finally managed to drag them near some man-made surface. There was nothing natural about the even, black cover that smelled funny, so he had high hopes of finding someone at last.

As he stood there, shivering and trying to work out what to do next - he could not see any kind of human settlement in any direction - suddenly a noise and lights appeared as if out of nowhere and passed him with a smell of hot metal. He threw himself backwards into the bushes, trying to cover the baskets with his body, and curled there, in the mouldy leaves, hoping the monster had not noticed him.

The noise died abruptly and he heard some clicking and clunking from the direction of the road.

"Are you sure, Jim? I never saw nothing."

"You never see nothing, Bart. There was a kid, all alone here, in the woods. He can't stay here alone tonight, it's going to be below freezing."

"Jim, you're seeing stuff. There was no kid..."

He saw a very strong beam of light go directly into the bush he was huddling under and suddenly there was a man leaning over him, watching him intently.

"Bart?"

"Yeah?"

"There's more of them..."

* * *

The sheriff looked at wet and miserable boy and two baskets placed in his office by the burly truckers.

"You boys kidding me? Found them in the forest? What the hell do you think I'm going to do with them?"

Jim (who managed to get the boy to eat some of his sandwiches and drink hot tea from a thermos) leaned over the sheriff's desk.

"You are going to get the social worker here and get her to take the kids into a safe place. We picked them up smack in the middle of the woods, no sign of anyone around. The boy was half-asleep but he says he dragged them in these baskets for hours. He says he doesn't know where they started and that he has no idea where they came from. How does this sound to you? Because I reckon it sounds like some friggen commune of stoners lost four of their kids today and I'd much rather they were taken to a proper home than be left to die of cold in the woods. What do you think, Bart?"

Bart, who stayed mostly silent for the previous half-hour, nodded and mumbled "Aye" tersely.

Sheriff leaned back on his chair.

"So you picked up some kids in the forest and now you want to dump them in some orphanage?"

"They are not ours, if that's what you mean. Look, these two are newborns. I was at my youngest birth at the hospital and he looked the same..." Bart finally found his voice. "Someone has to take them to the hospital and check them."

"And it can't be us, seeing as the truck is not supposed to carry any passengers. We took them from the woods, that was emergency. Now we're here, you're the local authority and you will take care of them. Get the social workers to take them. It's your job."

* * *

He shivered in the borrowed flannel shirt Bart wrapped around him and listened to the adults arguing. The man, seemingly someone official, was for whatever reason trying not to take the girls into his care. He knew very well what would happen if they were not taken care of. They would die and he would have failed.

He swallowed with effort. He saw many little children die of neglect in his time as a wooden puppet.

"Sir..." he pulled Jim's sleeve and the big trucker turned to him.

"What do you want, kid?"

"Sir, can we get them somewhere warm? We were in the forest for hours, and they may get sick..." he made his best begging face, eyes big and round, looking even more innocent in the oversized shirt.

"You see, sheriff? Even the kid knows something must be done with them. But, if you say you can't, you can just write this here, on this paper" Bart pulled a blank sheet from the shelf next to the rickety printer "that you deny care of foundlings, day this and that, and us as witnesses. And we'll take the wee ones to the hospital."

Sheriff finally stood up with a huff.

"I'll go to the hospital with you" he said through clenched teeth.

* * *

The social worker came, made all appropriate papers appear, made a lot of noise over the state of boy's attire, found something more or less his size in the hospital's storage - "people really leave a lot of stuff here when they leave", handed the shirt back to Bart, huffed at sheriff's attempts at explaining and then gathered all four children, arranged for a transport to her office, pushed the boy to say his goodbyes to the truckers - Jim hugged him tight and Bart shook his thin hand - and almost magically relocated them to the nearest social services office.

His head was still spinning when he was sat in a high, hard chair in front of some other lady in wire-rimmed spectacles and asked a lot of questions, half of which he actually could not understand.

"So you took the girls? Where from?"

He blinked.

"From the forest, ma'am" he answered timidly. "They were crying and I thought they must be cold or hungry..."

"And you couldn't feed them there?"

"Ma'am?"

"Why didn't you feed them there?"

"I don't think babies eat leaves" he said honestly. "They must drink milk and I didn't have any."

She surveyed him with her piercing eyes.

"So you say you found them in the middle of the woods? Nobody was around?"

"Nobody, ma'am. Only me and the three of them."

"And how did you found yourself there? Where are you from?"

He sighed.

"I don't know, ma'am. I know I used to live with my daddy and he was a... A..." he made a face. "A carpenter. He made wooden things. And someone shut me in a... A wardrobe? Or a box? And then I was in the forest and she was crying so I picked up the basket. And then I found the other two and I couldn't just leave them there..." he suddenly coughed.

"Bloody hell" she murmured and rounded the desk. "You're burning up, kid. What is your name?"

He squinted his eyes.

"Not sure, ma'am" he admitted, praying his nose would stay the same size despite all the lies he had to tell that day. "Mostly everyone called me 'boy' or 'son'."


	2. From the day we arrive on the planet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August in the orphanage

The orphanage - nobody cared what it was called officially, as the locals were more of a "call a spade a spade" kind - was nice. And cosy. And it was actually a good place, with good people staffing it and even a few actually caring for the small inhabitants.

He was given his own bed the moment he was let out of the tiny infirmary, instructed on the general rules of making his bed and putting his stuff in order, handed a new toothbrush and a set of soft, cotton pyjamas He looked at both the garment and the toothbrush with curiosity, making the nurse groan.

"One more eco-crazy hippie kid. Come on, boy. Time for some hygiene."

It was a weird, slightly discomfiting experience, but as he witnessed five other boys undergoing the same kind of cleaning, he obediently brushed his teeth, took a shower, washed his hair with sweet-smelling goo and put on the slightly worn set of pants and t-shirt.

"Now, to your bed. Tom, take August to your room. And let him sleep, no ghost stories or other stupid stuff. He's just got better and we don't want him to be sick again."

* * *

First night was quiet, probably because Mrs McConnaly was patrolling the corridor and checking each room for disturbances. On the second night, when it was the turn of Mr Waters, Owen (who slept by the door) declared that the man is back in his room, probably reading, and then they were free to talk.

"Is your name really August?"

He shrugged. It was a name as good as any, and if Mrs Hanners thought it suited him, he was OK with it.

"Mrs H said they can't keep calling me 'boy' and I don't remember..." he whispered.

"Mrs H said the fever messed up your brain" Tom provided helpfully. "The nurse said you may get your memory back in time."

"So you just, like, remember nothing?" Owen's eyes went big and round.

August shrugged.

"Not sure. I remember my da, making things out of wood. And I remember people sitting in a circle and having a council. And I remember that someone was screaming and they put me in some wooden box and everything went black" he licked his lips. "And then I was in the forest."

"With the babies" supplied Tom.

"With the babies. They were in baskets and they were cold and crying..." he paused here, not knowing what else he should say.

"Did you drag them for like miles and miles?"

"Felt like it" he said with sincerity. "I thought I would pull my arms out."

"Now you'll have hands like a gorilla! Ook!"

He looked at laughing boys in wonder.

"What's a gorilla?"

* * *

He watched the bassinets with his princesses in worry. He could barely work out which one was which, and it was strange not to know which of them is his future queen.

"August?"

He blinked, turning towards the nurse.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Why are you here, and not with the other boys, outside? They are playing soccer."

He shrugged.

"Can't play, ma'am. I trip over my own legs all the time. I'd rather stay with them" he nodded towards the quietly sleeping girls. "I feel like I should watch them."

She tested his forehead with her hand and hummed.

"If you want, you can sit in my chair" she rolled the upholstered office chair from her small room. "You could probably read something, if you want?"

He shrugged again.

"Can't read. Nobody ever shown me the letters."

He was still watching the bassinets, so he missed the outraged look in her face.

Miss Thompson brought out the primer the orphanage kept for smaller kids and they spent next days in the nursery, going very slowly through the basic book, letter by letter.


	3. Let's get together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Computer records are being hacked.

As a head of the orphanage, Annabella Hanners did not have much time for socialising, so most of her friendships from the years in secondary school had dissolved due to her missing more than one class meeting. Two of her mates stayed steady and visited her at her office, as both loved children but had none.

Samantha, who just raised a mug of tea in silent toast to her friend, loved watching the children in the group home and helped with the electronic monitoring around the place, therefore she seemed the best person to ask for a very specific favour.

"We have a strict policy of not separating twins. Or, basically, any siblings. Unless there is violence between family members, of course. But we have opinions of specialists, who say it's better to keep children together and even at a group home than to separate them for adoption."

"And of course nobody wants triplets."

She sighed.

"It's twins. The third girl is just... well, very similar."

Three giggling blonde girls twirled in the middle of the room.

"So she could be adopted."

Another sigh.

"Probably, yes, technically. However she's so close with the sisters I can't really think about separating her from them."

Samantha fell silent.

"And we think they were born in a sect" Annabella added, turning and looking at her visitor, as the other woman looked dazedly at the children.

"What, why?!"

She made a disgusted face.

"The twins were found a day after birth. They had poorly secured cords and were not completely washed."

"Happens to young mothers who give birth at home" the visitor shrugged. "What's different about these two?"

"For one, they were wrapped in a blanket of pure wool and they had jewellery on them - a bracelet, a pendant, some rings - all of it looks old and kind of pricey. All of it was deposited in the bank, so they can get it when they leave, maybe it will have some value... Anyway, who leaves a pair of day-old children in a wicker basket, wrapped in a woollen blankie and wearing enough gold and silver to drown a horse? Nobody. Except for some communities that don't have much contact with outside. Some girl probably got pregnant out of wedlock, or in some crazy cult which says twins are devil-sent."

"And the third one?"

"Ah. She was older - a month the doctor said - and she was actually wrapped in an embroidered blanket all of her own."

"So weird... So you think she's also a shame baby?"

"Or someone wanted to make sure she grows up outside of the loony society. Or I have no idea really, but it sounds scary to think someone dropped, in total, three perfectly healthy babies in the woods by the highway. Luckily there was a boy who found them. He seemed to be from some crazytown, too. Scared of airplanes and cars. I'm not saying he was sent by someone from wherever they came from to look after the girls, but we're keeping him here, safe. Just in case. Anyway, he's one of the 'not adoptable' ones. Sickly and too old to be in the "sick but cute" category."

"Pity... I'm always a bit worried about kids like this - the little ones are healthy, but he was probably not vaccinated, so he can catch anything..." the visitor shook her head. "Anyway. What do you need me for? I'm quite sure you wouldn't even dream about guilting me into adopting the girls..."

A snort.

"No way. But, if you could, I'd like to ask you... for a little tiny thing. Considering your computer-fu."

The visitor grinned and nodded.

"Make them triplets."

Grin fell and eyes widened.

"People can barely tell them apart anyway. I need you to manipulate the electronic records to say that they were found to be the same age and near each other. It's enough to say that they're sisters."

"But nobody will adopt triplets..." the visitor's voice trailed away. "You don't want them adopted?"

"They've been together all their lives. They are only four, but I can't just split them up. And someone will try, you know these stupid... people from the main office. They always think they know what is 'the best for the littles'. Making these three siblings will block any asinine decisions they may make."

The visitor scrubbed her face.

"Very well. But it's on you if one of them turns out to be red-haired after all."

"I'd rather have them be all colours of the rainbow, as long as nobody can separate them" she turned with grim face to Samantha. "There's someone out there, picking out little blondes out of the system. Each of them was adopted by a respectable pair of parents who checked out OK and suddenly..." she swallowed. "Police is helpless, nothing connects the victims except for point of origin. All adoption centres were warned, but some idiot on the top decided it doesn't make sense to stop adoptions, as the risk is small. Small! Ten children dead..." she shook her head. "They don't want to hear about blocking it until the killer is caught."

"And the parents?"

"Hah" the laughter was somewhat sour. "It turns out all pairs presented are someone completely different than they pose as. The people whose data is used are unaware of having "adopted" a child and very surprised at being confronted with the adoption workers."

"So, you want to make these three unadoptable then?"

Annabella nodded.

"In a manner of speaking. The people who do that adoption thing are only picking single girls. If I make the single one a sister... They will be better off here. I'll make sure they have everything they want and need."

Samantha shrugged and pulled her chair to the computer desk in the corner.

"I'd say, better alive and in the system, then dead outside of it."

She started typing and a black screen filled with letters finally showed.

Annabella looked away, turning her eyes towards the tiny courtyard, where Elsa had just tripped over Elena and Emma was sitting on a huge pile of sand, howling with laughter.


	4. Rewrite history

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> August makes a deal

Annabella Hanners kept tracking the police news for few more months, but after the twelfth child was found nearly dead, but able to speak, and gave details on how her adoptive parents had handed her over to a scary man with big hands and a knife, a state-wide advisory on screening the prospective parents was issued and suddenly the cases of fake adoptions ceased.

She had some qualms about keeping the girls still listed as triplets, but they seemed to be the happiest children in the whole world, just on their own. She couldn't just take the extra sister away without harming the other two... So she kept watching them, as they grew more and more attuned to each other.

Clothing them in a similar manner was not a problem. Whole group home was functioning on low funds, so everyone wore the same model of shirts, jeans, skirts or shorts. Making the three look next to identical required only some adjustment of their hair styling and nobody could tell them apart.

If sometimes Elsa was a tiny bit faster, nobody really noticed.

If Elena was a bit taller, at this age it didn't make that much of a difference.

If Emma seemed a bit more thoughtful and closed, well, it wasn't often enough to be visible.

After all, they were sisters. And they were so sweet. Nobody would have had heart to give them away separated.

Of course, there were suggestions from various prospective adoptive parents that maybe splitting them would do the children good - after all, they wanted only one girl, and this one (pointing out a random sister, almost never the one that they wanted a minute before) was just perfect. Annabella calmly and very politely told all of them to get lost.

The only risk to the whole setup was August. Whereas all of the employees who knew could be trusted to keep quiet - after all they did see how the girls were with each other - the boy also knew and could make trouble, simply by not guarding his tongue.

He was sitting there, in front of her desk, painfully erect, his face an innocent picture of eagerness.

"I need..." she trailed off as he smiled, his smile slightly uneven - she always thought about the probable beatings he must have received for his face to be that asymmetric "I need you to do something for me, August."

He nodded, eyes wide and focused on her.

"I need you to remember to always say - if someone asks - that the girls were in the same basket."

He finally blinked.

"Ma'am?"

She bit her lower lip for a moment.

"We have entered them into the computer as triplets. Now, you know and I know, and Pauline knows it's not true. We also know that the little ones are better off like this, all together, right?"

He nodded slowly, blinking.

"So, even thought they are not sisters, they are sisters?" he asked, uncertainly.

"We know they are not triplets, yes. And this will stay between me and you. We both will remember. You are a good, smart boy, August, and you know that it's better for them like this. If we wrote that they were not found together, someone would find out and then they would make me give the single one away."

"And they would all be sad" he concluded. "And she would be alone."

"And the two we'd keep wouldn't be able to get her back, ever. So..." she leaned forward, looking at him intently. "You must help me, August. You must make sure you always say that they were found in one place and looked exactly the same. The computer already thinks they were found as one-day-olds. Now you must remember that too. In case anything happens, someone comes and asks about them or... Or anything! You must keep this in mind. They were found together and they are sisters. All three."

He nodded, but still seemed worried.

"And if someone wants to adopt all three?"

"We'll be happy for them and we will hope for a good home."

He bit his lip.

"Would I be able to visit them then?"

She could only shake her head.


	5. Make a man out of you

August - he kept reminding himself to use that name even in his thoughts - was moderately happy.

He had been taught to read and write. He was introduced to the wonders of mathematics, biology, history and computers. At ten, he wasn't much behind his peers, even though he started from what the teachers called "tabula rasa", his skills limited to general survival and woodworking. The second one won him accolades at all workshops the boys were assigned to at school, as he could fashion a birdhouse, a cutting board, a key hanger and all manner of other small wooden objects that were graded for these classes. He was taught the usage of power tools, which still amazed him - he could only imagine what his Papa could have done with a mini-drill and some of these attachments that the teachers were using so easily and taking for granted.

He was a bit afraid of the computers. Machines that made a drill go fast were good. They did something he knew, but did it better than hand-drill. Machines that spoke, made lights, sung and heard you were plain weird.

He learned the mastery of text editor and calculating with a spreadsheet. He could even draw a picture which would later be put on paper by another machine, equally magical in his eyes.

Still, he preferred more traditional ways of recording his thoughts. Ballpoint pens were good enough for him, thank you very much. Ink pen was more of a challenge, as his poor fine motor skills affected his ability to handle it properly. He tried and tried, but his notes came all splotched with ink and finally the teachers gave up - no type of therapy seemed to help, so they chalked it up to some developmental problem and allowed him to use the ballpoint pen from now on. He chalked it up to him being fashioned out of wood and not being expected to learn to write at any point of his life.

One sunny day, four years after he came to the group home, all older boys were taken to the attic and given a task of dragging the boxes downstairs, where girls were unpacking them and segregating things to be kept, used or discarded. There August met his first true love. She had a number of black keys and was even properly packed in a cardboard box, with all required accessories in the pocket.

As he tried it out, the letters came up, a little dust cloud accompanying them.

At the end of the afternoon he was promised that the typewriter would be his, whenever he managed to make a new box for it and had place in his room.

It was one of the few things he packed into his case when the fall came and he got ill yet again. The doctors declared he had to be moved into the countryside for his health.

He had barely time to say goodbye to his beautiful princesses when the man from the new house came and packed all his things into a big car. He kept staring through the window, his eyes tearing up at the thought of leaving his little charges all alone.

_I'm sorry, Papa. I can't do this alone. But they are together. I brought them all here. I hope this counts._


	6. Something quite atrocious

The very egalitarian society of local primary school had accepted orphans before and would again. None of the children made any remarks about the shabbiness of one's backpack, or about children wearing the same type of jackets. In general, their peers were quite used to the group ferried daily from the _home_ and back.

There was only one hiccup, as on the first day Emma was separated from her sisters and led to a different classroom.

They asked the teacher in their class, they asked the teacher in Emma's class, they asked Mrs Hanners and nobody seemed to see any way of putting them in the same group, despite being perplexed with the way the lists were set.

At the end of day four, all three of them were tired and stressed beyond anything they've ever experienced before. Emma seemed distracted and managed to lose her lunchbox, Elena suddenly lost the ability to read without vocalising and Elsa's hands were trembling so much she could not draw a straight line. Even whole evenings spent huddled together on Elsa's bed, with Emma sandwiched between her sisters, did nothing to help.

On day five they decided not to allow anyone to separate them, however the minute they approached Emma's homeroom in a group, she was snatched inside and the door firmly shut in the other two's faces.

Elsa felt herself dragged down to the floor, as Elena sat where she stood and started crying piteously. She herself started shaking with suppressed anger, and the teachers gathered around them, looking disapprovingly, someone even snorting at the sight of them.

"What the..." a larger hand divided the crowd of grownups and a big man entered the circle. "Why aren't you in the class?"

"O-o-our sister got assigned to a different group" Elsa managed to choke out. "We've never... I don't know..."

"Oh, kid. Your older sister, right? She has to go to another class..."

"No!" Elena wailed. "Emma is eight, like us!"

Tiny, reedy man approached the larger one and whispered something.

"You must be kidding. No. No, why would you think... Oh, man, NO. Ok, kids. You both come with me. You" he pointed a finger at the smaller man "wait for me here. You idiot."

The sisters learned that the school principal isn't always the most important person in the school, but it definitely helps to be friends with the most senior P.E. teacher.

The school psychologist learned that running social experiments on separation anxiety may be the shortest way to no-payslip-land, even - or rather especially - when using orphans as his lab rats.

The principal learned that his psychologist was running a side job of small socio-experiments on the pupils and, just in case, hired a lawyer.

* * *

Elsa observed the lawyer lady with awe as she strutted down the corridor in her high heels, pencil skirt and blue jacket. Hearing the measured voice, the very sophisticated language and watching the calm, economical gestures of the woman she decided, then and there, that one day she would be a lawyer, too.

Or she would become a hired assassin and kill such women for money. Whichever would pay better. 


	7. Progress is encouraging

Being nearly identical gave girls a lot of opportunity for mischief, including, as they grew up, discovering the various chances of cheating the school system by replacing each other during chosen lessons. On the other hand, teachers were obviously on a lookout against such antics, so the situation balanced itself out and sometimes the girls won, but sometimes they were caught and paid the price. Still, even with the reports from school underscoring their pranks and attempts of cheating coming in, Annabelle Hanners felt that putting them together and making them all sisters was one of the best ideas that she had ever had.

She still remembered the episode with separation anxiety in the first grade, and she observed the connection between them strengthening - fortunately, as they grew, also maturing and allowing them some distance from each other. They were quite happy to split up at school, and by the third grade, they could even safely leave on separate class trips, if the situation demanded it. Still they stayed in the same room and took visible comfort from their own company.

Even the usual woes of children in the system - lack of entertainment, scarcity of interesting clothing and the perpetual hope of being placed with a proper family - seemed to touch them less than other children.

She could only hope their bond would sustain them after they grew out of the system and she could no longer support them. She had seen enough good kids get lost in the real world once they left the relatively safe confines of the group homes.

* * *

Being friends with the senior P.E. teacher - Mr Sully - had the unexpected outcome of all three being more carefully taken care of than any other random kids. The downside was, once the real P.E. started, they were running ragged and barely crawled home after every lesson.

Mr Sully made it his personal challenge to make them finally let go of each other, logically posing that if they learned to stay a bit apart, nobody would be able play with them again like the psychologist had.

On their first lesson they got assigned to different teams, and no amount of Emma's whining, Elena's tantrums or Elsa's silent tears could make him put them in the same group. They were in the same room, he explained, that should be enough.

And, in time, it worked. His dedication to the task made them both more fit and more independent from each other - able to leave the room where the other two were for much longer time than ever before, so giving them the freedom from the crippling fear they felt before whenever one disappeared for more than five minutes.

And P.E. was good, finally letting them blow off some of the excess energy that could not have been used up at _home_. It also gave them vital skills needed to deal with the rare bully at school, including the most obvious, of running away, and the less obvious, of kicking the bully where it hurt. Mr Sully was a great believer of girls practicing martial arts, starting with the schoolyard self-preservation moves.

* * *

"Madeline got adopted" Emma sighed gustily. "And we're still here..."

Elsa shrugged, trying to get Elena's braid under control.

"Triplets ain't easy to adopt" she repeated the same thing that they'd heard for ever and since they could remember.

"I know, I know..." Emma's forehead touched the wood of the windowsill. "I just wish there was someone out there who would want us. All. And we could leave and go to proper big school and see actual real world..."

"We will. Mrs Hanners says she's sending our papers to some foundation that pays for tuition for underprivileged kids. And as we're orphans and unadoptable, she says we have good chance."

* * *

The foundation did not even visit the group home. Mrs Hanners was fuming for days when she received their reply that her wards did not "show sufficient promise" that would make it reasonable to give this amount of money to one specific family.

She angrily threw the papers into her desk drawer and sat there, blinking the tears away. Then she picked up the phone and started making calls.

* * *

Three days later Elsa, Elena and Emma were packed into a waiting taxi and taken to a huge office building in the middle of Boston.

"There is a lady here who wants to meet you. I decided if nobody is willing to help us with your school fees, well, we have to earn you some money. The lady is the director of marketing and if she likes you, she will hire you for the whole campaign."

* * *

"So you want your wards to earn money for school?" the lawyer was frowning somewhat angrily. "Why can't you apply for a stipend? Or a tuition reduction?"

Anna Hanners sighed. The same question yet again. Why did they care what she wanted to pay for with their money?

"There are three of them. Most schools allow only certain amount of "charity cases" and I can't risk two of them getting approved and one not. It's better if they can raise the needed money themselves. This way their choice is much better when it comes to picking the actual school."

The lawyer seemed unimpressed and Annabella suddenly wished for Elsa to give up her dream about law school - she wanted her girls to get good jobs, but is being a corporate lawyer made a human being into this kind of creature, she didn't want to see Elsa become one, ever.

Still, she kept her peace and smiled tightly at the man, as he finally pulled out a draft contract.

* * *

Elsa hated the lamps, but stood there bravely, with her smile firmly affixed and her brain counting how much of the next year's tuition in their new school she was - they were - earning with every single minute of the photoshoot.

Teens wear was not something she was very knowledgeable about. Usual clothes in the group home were "whatever we could buy in bulk" so girls were used to monochrome t-shirts, one model of trousers and not much variety in the chequered shirts department. Suddenly they were faced with _choice_.

Fortunately nobody asked them to make the specific decisions, and they served as perfect dress-me-up dolls for a group of enthusiastic women, delighted with such occasion. They were dressed in identical things, things varied in colour, things varied in model (but with common colour theme), things from one line (all sporty, all dressy) and so on and so on. This session was the last, with Elsa wearing a blue sundress, Elena in blue jeans and striped blue-white t-shirt and Emma in a blue leather jacket matched with blue-black trousers and black top.

"Perfect" someone said from the crowd and the director of the shoot started posing them in front of the camera.

Their faces were everywhere in US. Or rather, almost everywhere. Few tiny spots on the map were missed by the billboard companies.

They were flooded with propositions for a TV shoot, for another photo session and even for an interview. Quietly all these were archived and they ignored the fashion world until next summer.

Two more contracts with the same clothing company gave them enough money to pay for all the college education they may wish to ever have, with surplus.


	8. Out into the light

Growing up in a group home wasn't hard - once the original small-children orphanage was reformed they stayed even in the same building, just under a different name.

It became a bit more involved, especially as they grew - they had chores, they were sent out shopping, they had trips to the ZOO and picnics. Still, they stayed in the relatively limited range of people in their school grade and in the _home_.

College, however, was a shock. The sheer number of people and complexity of interactions required from them by their new environs were astounding.

Elsa's reaction was simple. She reached even higher level of detachment from all others, calmly ignoring everyone equally - bullies, jocks, mean girls, nerds - except for her own sisters. Where it didn't affect her grades, it gained her a rather obvious nickname she quickly became tired of.

Elena took up martial arts, delighted with bo staffs and the occasion to hit people with a stick legally. Both her sisters took to teasing her about her musculature a bit, but as the shortest (by an inch) she was happy to gain a bit of strength. It proved to be helpful in all kinds of situations, especially if Elsa needed extracting from some idiotic situation with an oblivious (or seemingly oblivious) admirer. There were no admirers for Elena, at least not after she became known to have climbed the dojo rank ladder rather quickly.

Emma took the bravest step in her life and signed up for social support group for disprivileged youth, and together with a number of other like-minded students from all departments she worked in a study hall, tutored kids and supported them in various activities, up to and including interventions at schools and helping in personal matters. She was learning so many important things she felt they had missed in the group home and she would share - as much as she could sanitize of personal data - with her sisters whenever she learned something useful. All three needed a lot of information about the actual "outside world" to survive until graduation.

As Elsa worked her way towards a law degree - having decided that becoming an assassin requires way too much climbing and crawling, Elena and Emma followed their more technical goals. Although being the "mascot of the group" became very annoying very quickly, Emma stuck to her programming course. It was slightly harder for Elena, who couldn't make her mind and tried to take typography classes, technical writing, editing and creative writing courses all at the same time.

Her sisters supported her - despite their obvious doubts - and they all pulled through. With their master thesis properly edited, set and printed.

They survived by holding together at all times. Well, almost all. They were adults, after all.


	9. Ruffians, thugs

Emma leaned back on the couch with a groan. The high heels had been enough of a torture, but the whole official gown - pure hell. Especially in the hot weather of late spring.

"I sometimes lost hope we'd actually get through this" Elena slid down next to her. "With everyone repeating over and over again how _brave_ and _daring_ we were, orphans aiming for college! Incredible! "Are you _sure_ you can manage, _dears_!" and so on. Like they never actually believed we're intelligent enough to be there. Or that we should just go and flip burgers, just because we're from a group home."

Elsa strode in, her heels in one hand, robe cleanly folded on the other.

"We proved them wrong" she pointed out with a grin. "And now we can finally stop worrying about all these stupid people and their so-called _advice_. I want to do something _monumental_ to mark the day."

"Just go and take a cold shower" Emma snorted. "It's too hot for us, which means you should be sitting in shade and mainlining granita, not standing there, looking freaking _perfect_."

"It's the question of enough practice in being absolutely professional, no matter one's personal needs. Keep it all together, head high, and don't let them _see_ you sweat. Lawyers are like sharks, they smell fear. I have to always maintain proper poise and be dressed just so. That much I learned on my internship."

Someone pounded on the door.

"Pizza, THAT fast?" Emma looked at the wall clock. "I just ordered it like 15 minutes ago."

Elena rose and opened the door just as another barrage of knocks started.

"Come on, you're distur..."

Two police officers seized her arms and a pair of handcuffs clicked over her wrists.

"Emma Swan, you're under arrest..."

"Excuse me?"

The policemen looked up at the other two sisters standing in the corridor.

"What?"

"Why are you arresting Elena?"

"I think they actually wanted to arrest me. Still, no idea why."

"Identification" one of the policemen finally barked the order, not releasing his hold on Elena's arm.

Both sisters shrugged and started fishing out their documents out of respective voluminous handbags. Elsa grabbed a handful of objects from hers and dug for her wallet, but Emma simply dumped the contents of her purse on the table and was looking through them, in the process dislodging the holster stuck between everything that had been stuffed in the bag.

"GUN!"

* * *

The whole thing ended up in a police station.

"So, you're saying you are sisters?"

Elsa sighed patiently.

"Yes. All three."

"So why do you two have your IDs and one doesn't?"

Elsa bit her tongue, trying not to say something along the lines of "the stupidest question of the year".

"Because your officers did not allow us to grab her bag and that is where her driving licence, her library card, her school ID and her passport are."

The captain blinked.

"So you're saying it's my people fault your so-called sister is an illegal?"

All she could do is close her eyes and breathe evenly. Even with the law school under her belt she felt somewhat unsure about the police procedures and paragraphs involved.

* * *

"What exactly were you doing in that apartment?"

Emma shook her head.

"Pardon me, what?"

"I'm asking what were you doing in that apartment"

"Living...?"

"Who let you in?"

Emma's brain screeched to a stop. And restarted on new thought path. She sighed. She straightened herself.

"Are you implying we were there illegally?"

"I'm the one asking the questions."

"Are you aware that the lease is actually mine? The officers came there looking for me specifically - although I still have no idea why - so they weren't there due to a disturbance or other random reason, they were there for me. The apartment was paid by me, personally. My name is on the building list. Our names are under the doorbell. Why are you behaving as if we've broken into it?"

"Did you?"

* * *

"Documents, please."

"I don't have any on me."

"Any type of documentation will do. European passports are OK, too."

"I have an US passport" Elena ground her teeth. "Just. Not. On. ME."

"You're making this harder on yourself. If you just hand over any ID you have, it will be much easier for all of us."

"Officer" she finally spat out. "I have no documents and nowhere to hide them. I'm wearing bloody leggings and a t-shirt, where would I be hiding my IDs, tell me?"

"Did you lose them in the sea?"

"Excuse me?"

"You should have reported that to Immigration, now I'll have to contact them..."

"My bloody driver licence is at home! The two you've sent to our flat didn't allow us to bring anything more than we had on ourselves!"

"I see an unwarranted level of aggression here..."

* * *

The Immigration officers actually managed to stay quite serious when interviewing a thoroughly pissed off Elena Swan who provided her SSN, let herself be fingerprinted and checked against the drivers' database. Even so, they did have some words for the station captain regarding the idiocy of calling Immigration on a US national without allowing said national to actually provide the documents he was demanding.

Elena was finally released, although nobody even tried to express any kind of remorse regarding her treatment

"The first thing I do when we get home I google how to sue the police..." she mumbled, sitting on one of the plastic chairs.

Elsa plopped gracelessly next to her.

"No worries, I already got all needed paperwork. Anyway, they are still holding Emma for some idiotic questioning. They think she was stealing watches. In Phoenix."

Elena's eyes bulged.

* * *

The _Homicide_ detective who actually owned the case tore the station captain to shreds with her tongue lashing. It turned out the stolen watches were only a tiny piece of a big investigation that included three corpses, five stolen cars and a break-in.

"He... he left them in my car?" Emma asked, her hands shaking.

"Well, it would seem so" the detective's raspy voice was somewhat comforting. "If what you're saying is true, he set you up. And, I'm guessing, most probably tipped the police."

"IF? Are you implying I'm lying? I've never been to bloody Arizona! We have no time to, to, _gallivant_ around the country!" Emma's voice broke as she hiccuped.

"Listen, kid. The guy is bad news anyway. He's wanted in at least six states. Once the labs are done with the box, we'll have the confirmation that you never touched the contents, we'll be done and you'll only be called to witness once we have him in custody and arraigned."

Emma nodded and swallowed convulsively.

"I never opened any box, we were just packing them in my trunk when he was moving."

"He wasn't."

Emma's eyes snapped open.

"He was moving his storage - his cache. He actually lives in a car."

"How...?"

"He's been doing this for ages. He steals a car nobody is using for some time - during vacation - and lives in it for a few months."

"But he always said he doesn't have a car. He used public transport..." Emma trailed off. "Ah. He didn't want us to see the mess inside?"

"Probably. Or just didn't want you to be able to identify his current car."

"God, I was so stupid..." she combed her hair with trembling fingers. "At least I can be quite sure there are no fingerprints of mine on these watches. I'll bet there are some on the box - I was straightening his stuff when we were packing it. Augh..."

"OK, kid, now, listen. I'm letting you go, just don't leave Boston. You and your sisters may be asked to witness either at court or give more detailed description to us - this time at my station, of course."

Emma nodded and smiled uncertainly.

"I hope we won't be needed" she sighed finally. "We were kind of planning to have some vacation."

* * *

The pizza delivery guy was not amused.

* * *

The court date came and they testified, assisted by "their" detective's younger brother (also a cop) with transport and all arrangements.

The whole team from support centre had their moments in front of the court, giving more strength to Emma's statements and adding new details about the secret life of Neal Cassidy, each providing some new, slimy facet of his character.

Neal had not been apprehended in time, but as one of his partners in crime was, the proceedings went smoothly, making almost sure he would not remain a free man if the police ever managed to get their hands on him.

* * *

Emma threw up almost everyday until the court session and they hoped her nervous attacks will stop after that, but her symptoms did not lessen.

Peeing on a stick gave them the confirmation of what Elsa was already suspecting.

"Fuck you, Neal" Emma growled, looking at the little plus.

"Well..." Elena shrugged. "Looks like someone already did."

"Oh, shut up."


	10. Togetherness

Emma's pregnancy did mess up their plans rather thoroughly. In fact, there were only a few points they agreed on - starting with the most basic one, that they were going to keep the child.

After a big discussion they decide to call "it" Henry, or Irene, depending on the outcome. Elena was suggesting "Harry", but Elsa pointed out that kids with "book names" are often picked on at school. Henry was close enough and a good, short name with no fuss. Elsa secretly wished for a girl, but Elena was more partial to a nephew. Emma just wanted to stop puking at some point.

* * *

"Have you considered your options?"

Emma blinked at the nurse behind the desk.

"Yes, we've already chosen the name."

It was nurse's turn to blink.

"I meant, have you considered - termination, adoption? There are secure ways to give a child away for adoption, and there are agencies that facilitate this. You could even get some money…"

The door behind Emma didn't slam, as she had to energy to slam things any more.

* * *

Elsa wrapped the blanket around her and handed her a steaming cup of cocoa.

"They are…" Emma inhaled shakily. "They are just nasty."

"They are following a script, really" Elsa sighed and sat across from her sister. "I suppose they get a ton of women our age, trying to get out of the situation. They are supposed to accept the first answer though, so she should have shut up the moment you said you chose the name. Also, she should not have mentioned the money."

Elena leaned on the kitchen door frame.

"We'll go with you tomorrow. Hopefully that will make them more restrained."

* * *

Emma had to give up volunteering at the support centre and had trouble finding an appropriate job, but Elena managed to get a position on her first interview, to the envy of her sisters. Proofreading of historical journals was perfectly suited to her preferred mode of working from home.

Elsa's job hunt took slightly longer, but companies needing a paralegal were abundant, she just had to pick the right one.

Emma's spirits were so low she could barely make it out of bed and into the kitchen in the morning.

* * *

"Here" Elena dumped a stack of paper in front of her pregnant sister.

"What is that?"

Emma struggled to sit upright.

"Money. You read this, you mark errors, they pay. I know you hate picking on people's errors, but these are sociological articles and I hope you can focus better on them than you would on some of mine."

Emma picked the first sheet up and pushed her glasses up her nose.

"Why did you pick up these? I know you hate proofreading on paper…"

"But your laptop is half-dead and these had been delivered printed out anyway. I asked in the office if they had any backlog and picked some of these, by the topic. If you don't like them, I can find some zoological ones and I'm almost sure I saw some about childbirth…" she smirked. "Now, you remember the correct notation?"

Emma shrugged.

"Hope so. Thanks, sis" she smiled slightly at Elena.

* * *

With the due date a month in the future, they never expected Emma's waters to break in the middle of a shopping mall. Fortunately the car was just at the front of the mall - Elena had an uncanny knack for finding good parking spots. They half-carried Emma into it and earned Elsa several tickets on the way to the hospital. At least they didn't try parking in the ambulance bay, like some parents they've seen, as Elena supported Emma in her march to the door and Elsa could park the car safely and correctly. She barely made it inside with her sisters.

* * *

Despite three or four attempts at separating them or removing at least one from the birthing room, they managed to stay with Emma for the whole 20-hour ordeal. Elsa was alert for every manoeuvre of the staff and Elena never let her nephew out of her sight, once he was washed and wrapped in a blanket. She was having a slightly bad feeling about all around them, but putting a finger on it seemed to be a challenge.

* * *

"We're **not** leaving him in the hospital" Elsa felt that if she had to repeat that sentence one more time, she'd kill someone with her bare hands. "Some people... I just can't. Just can't."

Elena pressed her hand briefly.

"We'll get there."

Elsa sighed.

"I hope so. I'm just a bit... why does everyone assume that three women can't raise a kid?"

* * *

Henry was just adorable - if one could ignore his unfortunate resemblance to Neal. Emma was more than happy to do so. She sat on her bed, exhausted, sweaty and hoarse from screaming and her son was the very sweetest kid ever. The fact that his father failed at his basic task of being a decent human being did not affect her love for him one bit.

"So, dear, it's the time to sign the papers" the nurse smiled in a way that unsettled her. "the quicker you do this, the sooner you can be on your way."

Emma blinked, pulled brutally out of her reverie.

"What papers?" she coughed. "The doctor said we need at least one more day in the hospital. I didn't..."

"Yes, you did" the nurse frowned. "You must sign these papers right now."

"What is this..." Emma's voice trailed off as she scanned the document. "I'm not giving Henry up for adoption! Are you crazy? Elsa already told that stinky lawyer to stay away from me! You're _not_ getting my son!"

Her tirade gained in volume as she pushed the pad of documents away and down from the bed, trying to get up.

"You will be a good girl and sign the blasted papers or you will learn how badly I can hurt you with just the stuff I can inject into your IV."

Emma gestured with both her free hands.

"I have no IV!"

Big hands immobilized one of hers.

"Now you will, no worries."

"And this is my cue to ask you to step away from that bed, write down your name and get you reported to the chief."

"Elsa!"

"I kind of had a feeling they won't give up that easily."

* * *

The chief of the maternity ward squirmed in his seat as Elsa watched him with cool interest. Finally, having re-stacked the papers, organised the pencils and opened and closed the windows twice, he managed to look at her.

"We were asked to provide a boy, of certain characteristics" he uttered. "Your nephew fits the description. I'm so very sorry for my staff's behaviour, but the possibility of a hefty bonus must have clouded some minds."

"I don't really care. You can now work out where you are going to find all the money I'm going to sue you for. I'm quite sure your insurance doesn't cover 'employees being stupid craps'."

It was, indeed, rather satisfying to be finally able to defend themselves against the world. Elsa found it refreshing to be the one in charge and in control, so she happily pushed the case until a healthy sum was deposited to Henry's "school account".

Proper lawyer-y detachment be damned, that was _family_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here I'll pause reposting, just for the time being :)  
> Let me know what you think (or maybe I made some awful mistake somewhere and you just can't wait to point it out - I'll be happy!)


	11. Usual morning lineup

At some point they gave up trying to understand. The world was obviously ready only for "traditional" families, and that didn't cover them in any possible way. The best they could do to describe their situation was "single mother with one child, supported by her closest relatives". Which only meant that every document, every power of attorney, and even signing up for Henry's daycare was a challenge of explaining to general public the whys and hows of their daily life.

* * *

"Please list who is also authorised to pick Henry up. We have a very strict list of carers, and if someone is not on it, the child doesn't leave"

Emma nodded and started filling in the form.

"Also, please provide telephone contacts to all possible family members we could contact in case of emergency."

"What kind of emergency can there be in a daycare center?"

The headmistress shrugged.

"Anything from a bloody nose to a problem with water mains. I suppose all parents would prefer to pick up the kids in case we have a problem with water supply…"

Emma nodded noncommittally and added Elsa and Elena in the provided spaces.

"Please fill this in correctly" the headmistress returned the form. "You need to also provide your partner's information."

Emma sighed.

"I have no partner. It's me and my sisters. Is that a problem?"

Raised eyebrows.

"Not as such, but I need to know if you and the father of the child are sharing custody or… I mean, if we suddenly get a man, claiming he's Henry's father, we need to know what is the situation."

Emma shivered at the thought.

"You won't, I assure you. Henry has no other family but us."

* * *

"Really, what are they thinking? I understand that a single parent is not the norm, but there are so many families that don't match the social norm… and so many reasons, from domestic abuse to death! And why would I mention some guy on the form just to make sure he will not be treated as a parent?"

Emma held her tiny, dark-haired son to her shoulder. After the day she had, the simple therapeutic action of hugging the toddler seemed to be the best thing to do. The way Henry curled up against her and fell asleep felt like a balm for her soul. His head pressed into the crook of her neck, his breathing slow and even, his small fists curled tightly, he was a living medicine. Just his smell - maybe slightly mixed with the smell of soap and crayon wax - made her relax.

She sighed, as Elsa sat next to her and slowly peeled Henry off of her.

"Probably they assume that their daycare is fancy enough to only bring in proper high-quality customers, and not vagabonds and weirdos like us. Considering the percentage of non-full-families in the middle class, I'd say they are in for a disappointment…"

Henry nestled in her hold, pressing his face into her sweater and mumbling something.

"I'm putting this one to bed. You try to relax, these people are just not worth your nerves."

Elsa loved watching Henry sleep. He was so… stable. Unlike most things in their lives, he was - more or less - unchangeable. Or rather, predictable. He grew, he learned new things, he progressed, but it was the proper kind of change, the natural one. Not something that happened in leaps and turned the reality around them into an unknown.

She watched as he stretched, yawned and turned on the other side, making small, cat-like noises.

* * *

"Elsie! I think we need something hot! Could you heat up the milk? It's _freezing_ outside and Henry's nose is getting blue."

"And I catched some snow on my tongue! Is it going to turn blue too, Mum?" he looked at Emma with sudden anxiety.

"It should not, kid, but only if aunt Elsa makes that hot chocolate for us a-s-a-p! Come on, out of that jacket. It's wet all the way through!"

Elsa appeared in the kitchen door and watched them in surprise.

"How did he manage to get _that_ wet?"

"Well, he found the biggest pile of slightly-melted-but-not-quite snow and rolled in it before I caught him. So, basically, I think his underwear may be, but just _may be_ dry. Come on, kiddo, strip and put on these" she handed him a pair of soft pyjama bottoms. "And wash your hands."

They sat at the kitchen counter - "wide enough for three and a half" as Elena called it - and sipped their chocolate, as Elsa joined them, holding a tall glass of iced tea.

"Aunt Elsa? Why are you drinking that cold stuff?"

She blinked and thought for a moment.

"I don't really like hot drinks, dear. I think I might have burned my tongue on something long ago and now I can't really eat anything very warm."

"Ah" Henry though for a moment, his lips on the rim of the cup. "That's not good" he finally pronounced. "Chocolate is the very bestest thing to drink. It's very bad you can't drink it."

"The important part is that I can still _make_ it for you" she hugged him, messing up his hair. "You can always drink some in my name."


	12. Sensitive and sweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About being different

"How many mothers do you have?"

Henry blinked.

"Just one" he shrugged. "How many mothers _can_ you have?"

"Suzy has two. But she has two _different_ mothers" Thomas explained matter-of-factly. "And my mum says your mum shows in more than one place at once."

"Well, I have one mother, but I have two aunts" Henry replied. "It's just that they look a lot like Mum, so some people are confused."

"Weird. How can the look the same?"

Henry shrugged. They always looked like this and he never understood the sensation they created when they went out together. He always had his mother, his aunt Elsa and his aunt Elena. They definitely weren't identical, even though everyone said they were. He just _knew_ which one was which - by the way they moved, by the shapes of their faces, by their voices. He never understood how people can claim they are unable to tell them apart.

He added a piece of roof to his castle and sat there, looking at it, as deep in thought as a four-year-old may be.

* * *

 

"Mum…"

Henry looked very serious, in his dinosaur pyjamas and under a star-printed comforter.

"Anything wrong, kid?"

He shrugged and grimaced.

"Are we weird?"

Emma's face paled a bit as she sat next to him on the bed.

"Why are you asking?"

Henry squirmed a little.

"There is a boy, at daycare. He asks all sorts of questions about you and I…"

She sighed.

"What kind of questions?"

"Like, why are there three of you. And he meant _you_ , as in, why do I have three mums. I tried to explain to them that you are actual, like, separate people, and the you are not actually identical, but he doesn't believe me. He says there must be something _wrong_ with me, because I have three identical mothers."

"Oh my" Emma leaned to him and patted his cheek. "Henry, kids are stupid like this sometimes. They see something they don't get - like us being triplets - and they make up an explanation that works for them. Then they work with that explanation and try to fit the world to it. He thinks that there is something weird about _me_ and so in his head he makes _you_ also weird. There aren't so many triplet sets in the world, so most people wouldn't have seen one. Also, we all live together and that makes people even more confused."

"So… Thomas just doesn't know what triplets are?"

"And so he thinks our family is somehow wrong. But nothing is wrong about us and if someone comes and says it to you, you can tell them to" Emma heroically swallowed 'stuff it' and finished with "talk to me, and I will explain it to them" 'slowly' she added silently.

Henry's eyes slowly closed and he burrowed under his covers, a bit deeper. He frowned and yawned deeply.

"And…" he trailed off, falling asleep in the middle of the sentence.

"Yes, _and_. Always an _and_ for us, kiddo" Emma sighed and closed the tiny book she didn't get to read to him that evening.

She was rather proud of him for the way he reported the whole situation, but in the long run they had to plan for dealing with such situations themselves, before it became a problem for Henry.


	13. Like the day before

"I'm getting suspicious" Elena gulped her coffee and poked the stack of mail in front of her. "No crap happened since last weekend, so it's ten days with absolutely nothing interesting going on around us. I feel like just before the storm."

"I hope there is no storm" Henry applied to his scrambled eggs. "We have a trip today and we are going to spend all day in the park."

"Not this kind of storm, kiddo" Emma fixed his collar and tried to make his hair lay flat. As soon as she finished, he combed them back with his left hand - right still shovelling the eggs into his mouth.

"One day, Henry, you're going to mix up which hand goes where and you're going to end up with the fork stuck into your hair" Elsa remarked from over her tablet. "And then I'll drive you to school like this."

"Mum! Aunt Elsa is being mean!" he stuck a tongue at the offender and then swallowed the last of his eggs and chased them up with a gulp of juice.

"Actually, if she did, you'd look like Ariel."

The juice sprayed from the five-year-old's mouth and nose as he choked in outrage.

By liberal approach to the driving regulations Emma got him to school on time - freshly washed, shirt and jumper changed at the very last second.

* * *

"I'm afraid Henry's not going to submit this project" Elsa said very, very calmly, as she looked the teacher in the eye. "I know it's a graded one, but I think I should advise you to rethink the idea of handing this kind of a task to children every again."

The young - younger than Elsa, probably - teacher waved her hands and shuffled the papers in front of her.

"Then Henry's total grade will be much lower than it could be" she started, in slightly condescending tone. "I don't understand, what is so complicated with such a simple assignment. All the children are doing it."

Elsa counted to five in her thoughts.

"And how many of these children are, in fact, coming from partial families? Do all of them even know their grandparents?"

"How can you not know your grandparents?"

The girl was so naively honest. Or honestly naive. Whichever that was, it did not bode well for her future in the education area.

 _Such a pity_ Elsa thought. _She seemed rather reasonable in September_.

"Very easily. If your parents are orphans and came from a group home, never staying in a foster home, then they don't have any traditional family - or foster family - meetings to tell stories about. If your parents are orphans, then there is no family heirloom to hand down the generations. In Henry's case, the family history is "I have a mother and two aunts and they were raised in an orphanage. And then I was born. The end."" Elsa smiled thinly. "Are you sure you want him to read this out loud, in front of everyone?"

"But, but…" the teacher froze up for a moment. "What about the father? He must have some family?"

Elsa rolled her eyes, which she was usually very careful not to do.

"Also, not everyone has a father worth mentioning in a public place. Really, you sure you have _only_ students from full, proper, multi-generational families who retain all relationships? Or maybe half of them lie when writing this stuff and cry quietly because of the way this is asked. Let's hit them a few more times, what do you say? Let's punish the children who won't bring a Daddy for the Father's Day play, hm? Or maybe make them prepare a show and tell with something that belonged to their grandparents? Why don't you throw in some genealogical research and drawing a tree of minimum three generations?" Elsa sniffed and straightened. "I hope, i really hope, you will consider not humiliating a big part of your students any more. Henry will most definitely not be writing any of those, or taking part in them. I'll go to department of education, or whatever that is called, if this affects Henry's grade too much, too."

* * *

Henry sighed as he sat in front of his supper and prodded the grilled cheese sandwich with his finger without much interest.

Emma reached to touch his forehead but he ducked his head and frowned.

"'M not sick" he mumbled.

"Why aren't you eating then?"

He shrugged. A five-year-old shrug is an expressive movement, especially if said five-year-old is usually a very talkative fellow.

"Sooo… something at the school?"

He shrugged and nodded, pulling the juice glass closer to himself.

"Sooo… problems with other kids?"

Shrug. Henry sipped some juice and made a great performance of swallowing it.

"So?"

"Not with kids" he finally uttered.

Emma strode around the table and sat next to him.

" _What_ happened?" she asked, rubbing his back. "I'm sure I don't like how this sounds…"

He frowned again, looking angrily at his sandwich.

"It's Miss Tallard. She said…" he thought for a moment. "She said she doesn't know how to talk to me now. She was standing in the corridor and talking to some other teacher and said she's so weirded out she doesn't know what to do with me now, and how to talk, because she's afraid she's going to say something wrong."

"Oh, dear. Elsa must have scared her a bit too much" Emma sighed, closing her eyes and pressing the bridge of her nose for a moment. "OK, next time I'm the one doing the talking. Sorry, Henry. Elsa went to explain to your teacher that some homework you got was not a very good idea, and she probably went all lawyer on her. You know Elsa is a bit scary like this, right?"

He nodded, but still frowned.

"Can we…" he hesitated a bit. "Could aunt Elsa not scare any more of my teachers? I mean, I don't like doing stupid homework, but I think Miss Tallard doesn't like me now very much."

* * *

It wasn't as if they had a lot of privacy in their tiny apartment, but at least every personal nook was separated with a curtain to allow each of them some "me time".

Elsa used the fact that her bed was by a large, deep-set window and furnished the sill with a mattress and some pillows. Now she curled in on herself, hugging one of them.

Her stomach hurt. It didn't happen very often, but always after a confrontation in which she let her inner lawyer come to the surface. Which, surprisingly, didn't happen at the office at all. Only when dealing with stressful social situations. And then usually in the cases where she found later she went overboard. Getting Emma out of the hospital and taking the money for the staff's behaviour? Piffle, not even a twinge. Bossing her way into a police station when their car was mixed up for someone else's and impounded? Perfectly ok. Talking to a teacher and apparently scaring her out of her wits? This she paid for. Painfully.

The world seemed to be pressing on her, as if her skin was gone and every movement of the air scraped against her bare nerves. The hairs on her hands seemed to vibrate on their own, Even the hair on her head hurt a bit.

She combed through it furiously, trying to get rid of the feeling that there was electricity gathering around her head.

The blue-and-silver striped curtain moved.

"WHAT?" Elsa blurted, feeling the air movement on her overheated face like a slap.

Emma slipped by the edge of the curtain and silently sat next to her on the window seat. Carefully reaching out she enfolded Elsa in a hug.

Suddenly all the electricity and the tenderness and the rawness feeling was gone. And when the second pair of arms went around her and the third blonde head joined her sisters, the general feel of wrongness in the room dissipated with something like a snap, and Elsa's knotted stomach relaxed enough for her to unravel herself from the pillow.

Unnoticed, the tiny bleeding ulcer she managed to work herself into quietly healed, leaving no sign of ever having been there.

* * *

The pirate movie was not exactly targeted at children Henry's age, but Elena's idea to make it a family thing turned out to be a big success. Henry was delighted with the animation, while the sisters left the cinema sniggering about the dodo, the Suspiciously Curvaceous Pirate and discussing the pros and cons of having an animation done with the voices of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman and David Tennant.

"I do admire the level of performance they gave, as their accents did add a certain _something_ to the movie, but I'm not really getting…" she shrugged "... _this_. I mean, nice voices, yes. So what?"

"Oh, come on, Elsa. It's like the Puss in Boots done by Banderas. You just love the furry guy some more because of this."

"And that rat in "Flushed Away". The movie itself was fine, but _Jackman_!"

Elsa rolled her eyes and strode ahead of them, towing Henry along.

"Come on, kid. Let's go and get some ice cream and let them drool over some animated pirates alone. I'm so not taking part in this discussion!"

* * *

Emma's days were rather long as she declined - even though they repeatedly offered - to let her sisters wake up early and prepare Henry for school. She knew that Elsa was a night owl and waking at 6:30, although quite possible, was a very very bad thing for her. Even half an hour made a difference. Elena, quite capable of being up and about even at 6, if needed, had absolutely no memory regarding school packing, lunch, proper school dress code and special requirements of specific days, so she could happily get Henry to school with nothing to drink, no sandwich and no pencil case.

At 6:30, in March, it was _cold_. Not as cold as in January, of course, but still the ceramic floor of their kitchen bit into her soles painfully and she hopped from one foot to the other waiting for the microwave to ping as the milk was getting heated.

Elena drifted by, snagging the orange juice from the fridge and drinking it straight from the bottle, ignoring Emma's sounds of disgust.

"You now drink the whole thing and buy a new bottle for Henry for the afternoon, do you hear me, miss?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, Mommy."

Emma was very good at throwing small things, so Elena soon found herself pelted with bottlecaps from one of the drawers.

"Mom? Can I have the cocoa now?"

"BLAST IT!" Emma ran to the microwave and opened it only to have the foamy milk splash from the oven onto the counter and her bare feet.

"You're having tea today, I'm afraid" Elena drawled from her spot on the sofa.

* * *

Henry was done with his homework and had to make a tough choice between bothering mom and getting something more to do and sitting quietly in the window by himself and finding something to do.

He counted items on the street carefully.

Five sedan cars.

Six vans.

One trash truck.

Seven kids on bicycles.

One motorcycle.

He yawned. Nothing interesting. Even the motorcycle guy looked like absolutely nobody exciting.


	14. Now they know

The guy seemed harmless enough, so Elena finally let him inside. All three looked at him expectantly, as he sat there, looking very uncomfortable. He played with his leather jacket cuffs and they perched on the sofa, waiting.

"Well?" Elsa decided to break the silence.

"Ah. Well" he coughed. "My name is August and..." he paused to take big gulp of air. "I was sent to watch over you."

Elsa snickered and Emma smacked her shoulder to silence her.

Elena finally found her voice.

"What are you, a guardian angel?"

"If he is, the angels are rather..."

"...scruffy."

He sighed again.

"You parents sent me with you, OK? And I really tried to stay in the same place, to make sure I don't lose you, but some idiots in Social Services decided it will be better to separate us and sent me to some stupid country house for boys. I never knew before these actually existed. They supposedly thought it was better for my health" he coughed and grimaced. "My asthma and my allergies disagree."

"Our... parents?" Elena asked in a weak voice.

"Yes. I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier" he made a face. "I was looking... well, anyway. The thing is, you know you were found in baskets, in a forest, by some kid, right?"

They nodded mutely.

"I'm the kid who supposedly 'found' you all. Actually, I only found one, the other two were sent with me. I can tell you exactly where, when, what we were all wearing and even who was in which basket. I suppose they wouldn't have told you that. This one" he pointed to the sturdy wicker basket - filled with various cables and cell chargers - by the window "was Emma's and Elena's. And that one" white construction of thin wooden ribbons now held yarn "was Elsa's. I know you will be suspicious, but listen, please" he paused and coughed again.

Elsa shuddered with sudden understanding.

* * *

August explained the events from twenty seven years earlier as well as he could, still skirting around the question of their actual origin.

"So" Elsa sighed again, by now sandwiched between her sisters, both holding her in a tight hug. "As I know you came with them, I'm guessing you have no idea who my parents might be. But what about theirs?"

"Yeah, that..." August stared at the dark window for a moment. "Your parents - now, hear me out and don't hit me and don't laugh - are best known as the Bandit Princess and the Dragon Killer. Or, Snow White and Prince James."

"Bull" Elsa's natural calm had already been rattled by the news they received just a moment before and now her normally measured, cultured voice broke just a little.

Elena pursed her lips and waited for Emma's reaction. Emma's 'lie detector' evolved soon after Henry was born (she was complaining a bit that it could have shown earlier and spared them all the court case hassle) and they relied on it in dealings with suspicious outsiders.

"He's not lying."

They were silent for a moment, looking at August, as he fidgeted in the soft chair.

"Actually, I'm telling perfect truth, for once."

His feelings and stress were, in fact, shouting "TRUTH" for Emma, so she nodded to her sisters.

"So, we're what, fairies?"

He snorted.

"No, perfectly normal humans. Just, well, a tiny bit magical. Actually, not that tiny a bit, sorry" he moved a bit, trying to find a better position. "At least one of you has already been using magic, a lot."

Emma looked at him appraisingly.

"You are still telling the truth, but that doesn't mean it is a fact. I mean, you could believe that magic exists, but still it would not make it any more true. Same with our parents. Someone might have messed with you, you were just a kid after all."

His shoulders slumped a bit.

"One of you is using magic. And I mean it. She can even do it unknowingly, but I guarantee you, she is. I could probably work out which one, if you weren't sitting all in one place" he smiled crookedly.

"What?" Elsa blinked. "How?"

He pursed his lips.

"I... Magic pains me, OK? I mean, it's like an itch that goes painful, the closer I get to a magician. Especially if they are actively, daily, working it. I can detect magicked items and places, sometimes old curses."

Emma leaned forward and looked at him in silence, lips pressed into a thin line.

"How?" she asked quietly. "Why are you so sensitive to magic? And, if it's so painful, why did you even come here?"

He sighed.

"I didn't feel it from outside, only once I was in here. So whatever one of you is doing, is not big, like a huge curse. Maybe it's just... I don't know. It's like in that Chinese restaurant I visited, the cook was 'helping' the dishes to stay unburned. Nothing more. So my knee itched like crazy, but only if I sat too close to the counter. By the door it was quiet."

"That doesn't answer the first question" Elena pointed out helpfully.

"Because I was created by magic, ok? And it's failing me and any time I'm close to any magician, the broken parts hurt! Will you stop asking?" he huffed and covered his face with his hands. "Yes, I'm a magical creature and I can detect it. Now will you please all move to different places so I can work out which one is making my wooden leg itch? May I add, that as it's wooden, I can't even scratch it effectively? Thank you?"

"Ok, so if we stand in different corners, or just come closer to you one by one...?"

'Wooden?' Elena's mental alarms started blaring and blinking red on that word.

"Yeah. Two can stand by the kitchen door, and one closer to me, that should work" he sighed.

Emma and Elsa rose and moved to the doorway, as Elena made a few steps towards August. He nodded slowly.

"Not you."

Elsa exchanged places with Elena and he hissed in pain.

"Ah" Elsa looked at her hands in doubt. "So it's me? But you said I'm not from the same place...?"

Emma sprinted to her and caught her hands in hers.

"You are still our sister, no matter what. And even if..."

August made a moaning sound and curled himself up in the armchair.

"Ah."

"So it seems I'm the only one without magic" Elena sounded a bit miffed. "I feel cheated, but I'm not sure of what."

* * *

They spent the next hour interrogating August - at least that was what it felt like for him. He answered to the best of his knowledge, as honestly as he could, until they finally got to "whys" of the whole thing.

"A Savior?" Emma choked a bit on that word. "Me, a Savior. Of a bunch of fairyland characters?"

"It's a big bunch" August sighed. "If everything went as it was predicted, then it's the entire population of Enchanted Forest, sent over here, to the Land Without Magic. Considering this universe does have magic, I'm a bit curious as to how the Queen is feeling right now."

"And these guys, all of them, can't just fight their way back? I'm quite sure they know more about all this magic and curse stuff than we do" Elena sounded a little doubtful. "Because if Emma is supposed to learn all of this by herself - no teacher, no help - then I'm almost sure we're not going to get there before our 28th birthday. To tell the truth, I'm still not really convinced it's not some kind of elaborate trick. What if someone lied to you? If you were sick, like you say, your memories might have gotten mixed up."

"And the wooden leg is just a joke?" August asked bitterly. "You can see for yourself."

He reached down and unlaced his shoe, taking off the sock and rolling up his trouser leg. His polished wooden leg shone in the lamplight.

"I'm sorry, August" Elsa patted his arm. "But if that was supposed to convince us, it's too pink to be wood."

"WHAT?" he moaned. "It's wooden, look. Hear!" he knocked it, the wood giving the slight door-knocking noise.

"Uh-uh" Emma shrugged in disappointment. "I see you're sure it's wooden, but we see flesh. I'm very sorry, August. I like you. You seem a rather nice guy. Really. And I see you're convinced you're telling the truth. But I think you should go now. It was fun when it lasted, but we're not taking part in whatever they told you to fool us into."

August breathed jerkily and curled onto himself where he was sitting, trying obviously to say something and failing.

"Why is your leg wood?" a tiny, clear voice asked from his side and everyone jumped.

Henry's mussed hair and his Captain America pyjamas were a bit of a contrast to his worried, concerned face.

"Does this hurt?" he prodded the wood carefully. "I thought prosthesis were plastic, one of the kids in the school has a plastic foot..." he trailed off, looking at the grownups staring at him. "What?"

"Henry, do you actually see his wooden leg?" Elsa asked slowly.

"Sure. It's kind of dark wood, a bit like that box you have in your room, on the shelf? The one with the green top? And it's shiny, like the kitchen counter."

"Henry, ale you sure? Can you tell me how… how does his ankle work? Is it also made of wood?"

Henry sat down cross-legged by August's foot and, completely unconcerned by the weirdness of the situation, surveyed the joint in question with attention.

"It's like a big wooden ball attached to both the foot and the rest of the leg. I don't see how it's attached, but…" he went very quiet and still for a moment.

* * *

August was watching the boy with alternating dread and wonder. If they had a kid, it would be all that much harder to convince them to move. But if the kid could convince them he was telling the truth…!

Henry slowly picked himself up and went to the bookcase.

"Mum?" he called finally "it looks like this."

He was holding up a book and August knew with painful certainty which exact book it was. He breathed deeply as Emma looked at the page and then back at him.

"I suppose you've grown a bit since" she finally said in a very flat voice.

"I suppose so" he coughed again, the whole situation making his asthma kick up. "It's been twenty seven years after all. I was stuck in my six-year-old body for a long time in the Enchanted Forest, but once we were sent here, I've started to grow up."

"And it's really you? I mean, you're really him?" she weaved Collodi's novel around for emphasis. "And your father…?"

"He's in there, with the others. If he survived" he added hastily. "Which is not guaranteed for any of them, except for your own family and the Queen. Her whole plan was to make their life hell, so she would have kept them alive, if only to see them suffer."

"What a delightful thought" Elena grimaced and plucked the book from Emma's hand. "Really, that's you? And the donkey and all?"

"No, Collodi added some stuff. I mean, basically what he wrote almost matches. Like all the fairy tales in this world, you know. Dwarfs do not wear slouchy hats and are much taller, your mother doesn't run around the forest in a fancy dress and the Wolf doesn't… well. You'll meet that one, too."

Elena pressed her hand to her breast in a theatrical way.

"My childhood is gone! I was sure the tiny guys were so adorable! I was in love with Grumpy for a long time!"

August shrugged.

"He's a rather nasty character, but I can tell you he likes your mother. After I got here and I started watching cartoons and reading books, I tried to match what is said here to what I knew about our actual world. I'm quite sure there must have been people moving between worlds before us, to get so many details right, but they had to either observe from a distance, or they wanted to obscure some facts, as they wrote an enormous amount of it wrong. Also, the timelines are shot, and I'm really trying not to think about it too much, as it means Collodi wrote my story way before I feel I was born, even if I count in all the years I was living as a six year old."

Henry looked from the book up at August.

"Mom?"

Emma wordlessly hugged his shoulders with one hand.

"He's really Pinocchio?"

August shrugged and nodded.

"I am. Or at least, I was when I was back home. Here, my name is August Booth and I'm a writer" he smiled sadly. "Not very successful, mind you, but still, it's a job."

Henry blinked a few times, trying to work out the meaning of all that was said.

"And… which way are you turning?"

It was August's time to think for a longer moment.

"What do you mean? Left and right, I suppose."

"No. Are you wood and turning real, or real and turning into wood?"

All four residents watched August as he quietly squirmed in the stuffed armchair.

"Ah. That is the question of the day, my boy. I'm afraid I am turning into wood. That's why I'd very much prefer if you believed in what I'm saying. Because I really don't want to see what happens when the change gets much higher."


	15. A whole new world

"You were four when they moved me to that country house. Apparently if a kid almost coughs out his lungs, there are people in the social care system that pay attention and _only_ after four years of observation they decided that either the pollution or something local is getting to me and so I was transferred out. Anyway, it didn't help. It all happened only after my second bout of pneumonia, so I'm kind of blaming _this_ , not any actual allergen in the group home. Anyway, I spend eight years stuck in a country house with a bunch of other sick kids and that was probably for the best, considering the foster homes everyone had stories about."

Elsa leaned back, Henry fast asleep in her arms. Emma had covered them with a blanket and Elena provided two fat cushions to surround and support her. As Emma prepared tea, they sat in silence, both sisters watching August and August watching Henry with perplexity. Then, visibly having forced himself to relax, he started talking, telling them of the life in the "home" as he remembered it from their early childhood.

"The lady who runs the place entered you in the computers as triplets. She explained to me that some men from the system - probably her higher ups in social services - would be quite ready to get Elsa adopted and separated from you and so she had someone fix up the records and make it look as if you were sisters. Elsa is like a month older than you two, they said. You two were newborns, so they counted the day I 'found' you as your birthday - correctly, even though our calendar doesn't match the one here at all - but Elsa was harder to pinpoint - when a kid is a month old, it's impossible to be specific about a day. So they first wrote exactly a month earlier, and then corrected to the same as yours."

Emma slipped into the empty space beside Elsa and caught her hands. "You will still have birthday with us."

"Or she can have two" Elena provided. "She could grab some gifts for the first go and then get a second round with us. I'm sure Henry would love two cakes _and_ we could have a chocolate one for Elsa's day and the lemon tarte for the shared one."

Elsa smirked weakly at Elena's suggestion, but only silently hugged Henry closer to herself.

"Can you tell us about that whole curse? Why is this crap even happening? I mean, didn't the wicked stepmother get properly killed in the story?"

"Ah" August sipped his tea "That's the part where the cartoons and our actual world are a bit different. The cartoons - and the stories, and the legends - tell you the perfect story. They have a moral, evil gets punished, good gets rewarded, prince gets a princess as a prize and then they live happily ever after. We rarely see a princess' mother or any other details. In our actual world, well. Let's say that not every villain gets their due - or, rather, most of them don't. Just remember, I was only a kid when they dumped me here with you - even if I'd been a kid for a long time by then - so all I remember is what Father and Blue Fairy managed to cram in my head just days before the whole thing went down."

Emma nodded and poured some more tea into his mug.

"The way I remember this…" he pursed his lips in thought "It all started sometime when Snow White was a kid. She did something - no idea what, I'm afraid - that made Regina very angry at her. Regina then became her stepmother, by marrying the old King. Then the King died and so Regina became the actual Queen of our land, which made everyone scared, because she was a strong dark magician. Then Snow White turned out to be a bandit - there were posters with a price for her head everywhere. Somehow, she managed to get herself a man - that would be prince James, from next kingdom over - and a veritable army of creatures despised by Regina. And they managed to win the war. Don't ask me for details, I was stuck at 6 years of age and Father didn't share a lot with me. He himself was more into building stuff than politics. So then Snow and James were getting married - beautiful wedding, that much I remember - and Regina showed up, even though she was banned from the kingdom. She just crashed the actual wedding, cursed everyone and promised them doom, and left. Disappeared in smoke, just as your father threw a sword at her."

"Threw a sword?" Elsa asked dazedly. "What kind of a world do you guys come from?"

August shrugged.

"Comparing to the works of contemporary literature - hard fantasy. Dragons, swords, lots of logical magic, lots of swordfighting, lots of death. Crappy healthcare, unless you are a noble. Maybe closer to Norton's "Witchworld" than Pratchett's "Discworld", if you get my meaning. Small towns, lots of villages in the middle of nowhere. And lots of forest. And lots of magic-born creatures" he pointed at his own chest. "Continuing. The wedding done, all peaceful, Rumpelstiltskin in a cell, everyone as happy as can be. Your mother gets pregnant. Everyone is even happier. And then it turns out - and I have no idea why, remember, six years old - that the kid will be able to save everyone in the kingdom from the curse, but only if they manage to get her out before the curse hits. So my Father built that fabulous wardrobe out of a very magical tree. And it was supposed to transport two people out - so they thought they could put Snow and James in it and make sure the little one gets all care she needs. But my father negotiated for more magic, as a payment for his help, and the fairies made that three, so that I could get out, too. He was afraid I would die the moment the curse came, because I would have turned into wood then. So once the wardrobe was finished, he pushed me in and then they were supposed to get queen Snow, but…" he sighed. "Something must have gone wrong. I'm guessing she was already in labour and _then_ it turned out there are two of you! So, I'm guessing, they put both into the prepared basket and so used up all the magic to transport both of you out. And then... You were here. And, i suppose, the curse hit the kingdom and took everyone here, too. But under Regina's control"

They drank tea silently for a moment.

"So... what are we supposed to do - or what is Emma supposed to do?" Elena leaned forward and looked at him intently. "We don't know a thing about magic, and even if you feel these two have been using it, I'm betting my salary they can't say what it was they did and how they did it. So, how do we break the curse?"

August shrugged helplessly.

"That they didn't tell me. The Queen and King were supposed to be here, with you! They just told me to be there in case something happened. And that something obviously happened. But they didn't teach me whole history of the kingdom, or anything even near it" he raked his hair with both hands. "I only know that magic is, well, a bit _sentient_ , and if you show up at the right place, at the right time, it may actually lead you where you need to go."

Elsa finally sat up and looked a bit more focused.

"You say right place, but I still don't know how we're supposed to find that place. You've never been there, right? You have no idea where they ended up?"

"No. Although I've been making some research, and with my stupid leg serving as a compass I can give you the general direction. As I said, it itches like hell when someone uses magic, and that place is apparently running on magic, _or_ Regina is using it, a lot. Either way, it's in Maine."

Elena snorted.

"Maine is a big place, you know. We can't just ride down each country road and try finding a magicked place."

August squirmed in his seat.

"I've had someone scry for more details" he finally admitted. "There are magicians in this world, just like in ours, they are simply a bit more subtle than Regina or Rumpelstiltskin. They said the name of the town I'm looking for is Storybrooke and the only way to find it is to already know where it is. But they _do_ know it's at least twenty miles from anything else, which makes it a bit easier to eliminate some areas."

"Very amusing" Elena rolled her eyes and leaned back on the couch. "So we can't get there until we know it's there…?"

August shrugged and looked down.

"I know it's not much. But, as I said, I learned enough about magic to know it has its own mind and will most probably try to lead you there. Things will happen to get you on the right track. Do you know how I managed to find you? Not through the orphanage, no. My leg hurt so I was trying to buy some painkillers - they dull it a bit, but not much - and in the clinic there was a lady telling someone that she'd seen three identical women talking to each other in a cafe and she had a problem understanding who was who because they all had names starting with E. I followed her a bit, discreetly, and identified the cafe. On the day I went inside because of a freak rain, you all showed up, too."

Elsa frowned.

"That was a week ago" she said slowly. "Why are you here only now?"

"I couldn't just approach you there" he explained honestly "And I _really_ didn't want to be arrested for stalking you, so it took me a week to track you back home. Sorry."

Emma just shook her head and yawned.

"I'm very sorry, August" she smiled weakly. "It's a bit much to take in. Can we… Can we just have some time to discuss this? I can't promise anything until we're all in agreement."

He rose stiffly.

"Sure. This is my cell number" he handed Emma the card. "If you think you need something else _and_ if it's something I understood properly, I'll be glad to talk. Please, do consider finding that place. If not for the sake of the whole kingdom, just for your own - and mine. Our parents are stuck there. Also…" he turned to Elsa "there are probably some magicians there who could help to trace your origins. And there are many ways to travel between worlds, not only magical cupboards. So you could, probably, find your family too."

Elsa's lips were pressed into a thin line, but she nodded.

"I will leave you, ladies. I'm staying in Boston for the foreseeable future, so we'll meet again, I suppose."

Only when the door closed and Henry was safely transported to his bed, Emma's brain caught up with the fact that August had mentioned many names he never explained. One of them stuck in her mind and she was mulling over it as she fished out the laptop from her bag and sat down to googling fairy tales.


	16. On the brink

"You look like hell."

"Love you too."

Elsa did look like hell. Her normally spotless professional makeup was absent, her hair looked like a bird's nest and her eyes were bloodshot.

"You planning to go to the office like this?"

Elsa stared absently at the wall and shrugged.

"Called in sick. Never needed to do this before, so my sick days accumulated nicely. Celia was actually concerned for me, but she said I'm more use to her healthy on Monday than sick on Thursday, so I have my boss's order to stay at home, hydrate and get some rest."

Emma sat vis-a-vis her at the kitchen table and sighed.

"You know that nothing changed, right?"

Elsa rolled her eyes expressively.

"Everything changed" she mumbled. "We no more…"

"Oh, do shut up" Elena joined them with her own cup. "You're being dense. Yes. We have more knowledge about our origins. But you're still our sister and that doesn't change and never will. Whatever that guy says - and I'm still not sure it's all true, because half of it sounded a lot like fever dreams of a lonely kid in need of _some_ explanations - we are sisters and we'll not allow you to isolate yourself because you feel you're somehow different. You're not."

"You're Elsa Swan and that's it" Emma said forcefully, gripping Elsa's hand. "Whatever he says, you are Elsa Swan and all fairies from all worlds won't change this."

Elsa didn't sniff, because it was not in her nature, but she did sigh with that kind of broken, stuttering breath that meant she was almost crying.

"Even if all he said is actually true and he has no idea where you came from, we already know some things - assuming we believe what he says."

Elsa managed do catch her breath and looked at Emma quizzically.

"Making that big assumption - and I'm telling you, he's utterly convinced of what he told us - we know you're from some place that uses magic. If our parents used the magical tree or wardrobe or whatever, then yours had to use something like this, too. Maybe a box, or some other tunnel to this world. We know you're like a month older, so whatever happened, they managed to take care of you for a while and only then they had to send you away. It can even be from the same world as we came from, actually. It has to be a planet, wherever it is, so it would have to be Earth size, to support compatible life. Even with magic. So it's big. Continents and oceans and everything. If we're from some storyland, than maybe you're also a piece of a fairytale, too. August says we're Snow White's kids…" Emma coughed "And he _felt_ it very deeply. Like it was a basic thing for him. Sky is blue, grass is green and we two are Snow's and Prince's HEA. We're the sequel to the nursery tale."

"The x-rated sequel" Elena snorted.

Elsa pressed her lips into a thin line to stop an emerging smile.

"Why x-rated? We're not doing anything nasty! At least, not _now_."

Elena tapped the side of her nose.

"But _they_ had to. You know, at least _once_ …"

Emma rolled her eyes.

"That's our supposed _parents_ you're talking of!"

"Yea, and they fact they became parents means…"

"Mum?"

All three looked towards the door guiltily, trying to recall the exact wording of the conversation in the previous seconds.

"My throat is scratchy" Henry mumbled, pressing his face into Emma's hip. "Can I have some water? I don't feel so good."

"Come here" she pulled him up and tested his forehead with a kiss. "You don't _feel_ warm, but if I send you to school like this, I'll be picking you up with a fever. I think we'll be all skipping school and work today then. I have home office days from last month, so I can do my coding on the laptop, Henry can stay in bed and read, Elsa will sleep off the night…" she looked at Elena questioningly.

"I'll actually go to my office and work like a normal person" snorted her more awake sister. "You make sure the kid doesn't incubate something more deadly than a case of sniffles and she doesn't do something idiotic" Elsa gave an undignified snort "like trying to leave."

"I'll sit on her, don't worry."

"I'm _right here_ , you morons."

"We love you too, Elsie."


	17. At last I see the light

"I was thinking" Elsa paused and seemed to be very carefully stirring her coffee.

"Dangerous habit for a lawyer."

"Yeah. Funny. But. You remember how August said that the magic _thinks_? Or at least that it makes things happen in a certain way?"

"Yes, that it will help us find Storybrooke if we let it. So what?"

"I was kind of thinking of another thing. How, if we look at all our lives, there were things happening to us that were so damn random and overblown. Like, when a normal person goes to school, there is no weirdo teacher trying to run experiments on them. But we had to come across the only idiot in the county who did. Like, when you don't have documents, police normally agrees to let you find some, even if you have a gun – and they let you show the gun permit! And we got arrested and Elena was suspected of being illegal. How, actually, the very fact they called Immigration is a bit too much, considering Boston is a sanctuary city! Normally if they have someone with doubtful immigration status, they let them pass, unless there was a crime committed – and Elena was not being accused of any crime, so they should have let her go."

"So you think that the crap that happened to us…"

"Including that crazy nurse in the hospital?" Emma suddenly looked much more awake.

Elsa nodded.

"I think it's all because of magic. Even if none of us is actually using it, it may be affecting us. August said that this world was supposed to be without magic, but if we assume he's telling the truth – and Emma, you said he was – then there is actually some of it everywhere…" she trailed off.

"Elsa?" Elena prodded her with her spoon.

Elsa only stared ahead, raising her coffee cup slowly to her lips and her eyes were rounder than ever.

"Emma. Emma knows when someone is lying" she stated slowly. "She didn't have it before, only when Henry was born. And all fantasy books say people with magic gain more skills during some breaking points in their life."

Elena frowned, looking at their third sister.

"Emmy, when was the first thing you remember that your lie detector worked?"

She shrugged, grimacing.

"Not sure, but it might have been that crazy nurse, actually. I remember feeling the wrongness when she handed me these papers and tried to make me sign Henry away. I'm almost sure I've never had this feeling before, so… Are you saying the labour caused me to get magical powers?"

Elsa made a face.

"I'm grasping at straws here, but I'm guessing it might have. It was an important event, you were at risk, Henry was at risk, maybe your powers waited for this kind of spark to wake up. No idea. And that is all assuming August was right."

"Well, he was telling the truth. The question of right and wrong is something separate. He might have been lied to and someone managed to convince him to sell the lie to us – innocently."

Elena sipped her coffee.

"I'm…" she started and though for a moment. "Elsa, August said you were also using some magic, right?"

Elsa nodded and made a vague gesture.

"But you didn't notice anything happening? Emma knows she can tell who's lying, but you can't, so it's not the same kind of magic. But… did you notice something? Anything? Maybe you have more luck than others in the office? Get stuff done better?"

"The only thing I see is that I don't get freaked out by Judge Perry. He loves to see the things done quickly, so he opens all windows before the session and has the AC turned down. Most people get so chilled they want to get out of there as soon as possible, but I'm OK, so I usually get my guys out or at least, well, not worse off than they came in. Celia actually assigns me every time we have a first hearing with Perry, because she said my statistics are way better than others… What?"

"Elsie, what are you drinking?" Emma asked very calmly.

"A coffee?"

"No. You're drinking an iced coffee. What are we drinking?"

"…coffee?"

"Yes, lattes with hot milk. Do you see some trend here?"

Elsa eyed her glass silently.

"You hate hot chocolate so you drink ice tea. Even in winter."

"But you like chocolate, just like us. But only the candy, not drinking it."

"You prefer salads to warm dishes."

"You usually dress in one or two layers less than us – remember when Henry tried to make us not put a scarf on him, because he argued you aren't wearing one?"

Elsa put the cup on the table and stared intently at her hands, which were shaking slightly.

"Yes" she whispered slowly and a tear slid down her cheek. "I'm a cold freak."

In an eye blink Emma was behind her, enveloping her in a hug.

"If you are, you are our cold freak. What I meant – and what Elena meant, I think – is that maybe, just maybe, your magic is represented by your cold resistance. Maybe it's what you don't do, because it's just inside you. That is why you don't actively see it, like I see the lies being told – because it's always been with you."

"Even when we were small" Elena added. "You remember, you were always way overheated in summer, when we were quite OK. And you always tried to run away when they dressed us for outings in winter."

Elsa swallowed visibly.

"So you think I've always had it?"

"At least far longer than I can remember differently."

"So why didn't August feel it then?"

Elena shrugged.

"Maybe he didn't know it was it? In the forest he must have been dead on his feet, and in the orphanage they didn't mix the age groups a lot."

Emma swallowed the rest of her cup contents.

"Also, he started turning into wood only recently" she reminded her sisters. "And he feels that thing only in his wooden leg."

"Yeah. That too."

"Now… I assume we're all accepting finally that August was, in fact, right and we're not from this world and we are - at least Elsa and me- magical, yes?" Emma grimaced and looked at her sisters nodding slowly. "Now, help me to work out how to explain it all to Henry."


	18. Journey to the past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I wonder who will notice a difference in this chapter)

In the end, they didn't really tell Henry all that much. They explained that August was a friend of his grandparents and he would help them all find the family. They left the details about fairies and magic for some later occasion, when he would be able to understand the nuances better and keep the secret.

They also didn't tell him about Elsa's being no longer a relative, as Emma felt it was not relevant at all and would only serve to upset him. Elsa felt some weird relief, as Henry was her favourite thing in the world and she didn't want to lose the connection she had to him - being his guard and protector from crazy nurses and overzealous teachers - because of the things they had learnt about their past.

The change that occurred was on Elena's initiative, as she dragged home a thick tome of Nursery Stories and Fairy Tales.

"Is it Andersen?" Elsa asked innocently, peeking inside the covers.

"No way. Andersen is way too depressing. The girl with matches, dying in the snow, brraugh. I'm not going into these. No, this is a baby-level standard of slightly-optimistic, mostly-happy-ending stories from different corners of Europe. There may be some Andersen remakes here, but not his own stories directly."

So they put Henry on a steady diet of fairytales and provoked discussions about them, usually between themselves, to see what would be his reaction to questions like "What would Cinderella use to get home from the ball in US in XXI century" or "How do you think Red Riding Hood would dress?"

Sometimes Henry joined the fun, suggesting Prince Charming riding a bike - like August's - or saying seriously that Sleeping Beauty would be better off as a patient in a modern hospital, not asleep in a castle overgrown by brambles. Sometimes he just laughed when they made their crazy suggestions or corrected them when they tried to make wild changes to the known tales.

Based on what August had told them, they tried matching the "facts" to the tales they knew and quickly understood that even the best research into available material was not going to prepare them for the actual meeting with the inhabitants of the Enchanted Forest. The tales they knew - or read for the first time now - were all very contained and unlinked from each other, and of course none of them mentioned anything _but_ a Happily Ever After, without details, and they already knew that this was what the Evil Queen took away from everyone.

So apart from delving into theoretical past as re-written by Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault, they decided a little delving into their own much more recent past was in order.

"I was wondering when you three would show up" Annabella Hanners peered at them from over her glasses. "And who is that young gentleman?"

"That's Henry" Emma hugged him tightly as he pressed himself into her side.

"I see. And you two, nothing…?"

Elsa reached for Henry and ruffled his hair.

"Henry is quite enough for the three of us, I think."

"Ah. So, what brings you here today?"

They looked silently at each other and finally Elsa spoke up.

"Why did you do this?" she gestured to the three of them. "Why did you make us sisters?"

Annabella Hanners sighed.

"I'm guessing either one of you needed some medical procedure and you found incompatibility or the boy managed to find you" she stated calmly. "Well, in any case, I did it because you already were sisters by the time we shuffled the papers. I couldn't separate you from them anymore than I could separate _them_ " she gestured towards Emma and Elena. "You probably don't remember it, but you twisted an ankle when you were three. Both Emma and Elena cried from the moment it happened, showing all the typical reactions of the so-called twin syndrome. Which is not taken very seriously by psychologists, but I'm not a psychologist. And my great-grandmother was a Scottish witch, or so they said. They say my family line always inherited a bit of a shine - or a touch, or a sight, whatever you want to call it. I just _knew_ you three belonged together, and everything that happened seemed to confirm it."

They sat in silence for a moment, Henry still holding tight to Emma and Elsa working very hard on breathing deeply and evenly.

 _Even then there was something at work_ she thought and dared a look at Elena, who was biting her lip in concentration.

"It wasn't only that" Emma suddenly stated. "What aren't you telling us?"

They looked intently as the older woman bit her lip and considered the question.

"There were people adopting little girls" she finally said. "And killing them. Because it happened all over the country, there was no reason for single state to see more than one or two cases and so the authorities in the system…" she snorted. "Well, they didn't see any reason to block adoptions, even temporarily and even ones matching only certain characteristics. Specifically, blond girls born around the same time as the three of you. It ended when one girl survived and was able to tell her story - as much as an almost-four-year-old can. There was investigation, but the actual culprits fled long before police located them."

"So, why…?"

"Because it took more than half a year in total" she explained darkly. "And there were people trying to get one of you all the time. They were getting confused seeing three girls, and never asked too much, but someone was going to notice that one of you _is_ available. So I asked my hacker friend to deal with it, and she did. She changed Elsa's entry to match yours, and so she disappeared from the potential list of victims. I never knew what it was that these people were after - just any random blond girl _or_ if they were looking for some specific girl and if so…"

Elsa looked at her sisters with one brow raised. Emma nodded shortly.

"You think they were looking for a specific girl and that specific girl was, in fact, Elsa?"

"I know it sounds awful, but that was my feeling. Remember, witch for a great-grandma, I get these flashes of _knowing_ from time to time. And every time I read about one of the cases, I saw you three in my mind's eye."

Elsa shuddered and Elena covered her hand with hers.

"It's good that you're here" their host added. "There was that other thing I wanted to show you, and I've had the worst of luck with it."

She raised and took a big cardboard box from one of the shelves.

"This was stuck in a bank vault for ages and by someone's idiotic… Well, they removed the deposit box from the list of ones we're allowed to access, even though we did have the key. Later I was ill, and so, time passed and nobody could get the box. Only two weeks ago I managed to remove it from the bank and kept it here ever since. I kind of guessed you'd be coming around sometime soon."

She raised the cover and unwrapped first layer of paper.

"When you were found in these baskets, you were not just lying there naked on the wicker, you know" she smirked. "You had these on" she shook out tiny, baby-sized dresses. "If a child comes to the home with something more than standard romper set, I try to keep it - maybe someday they will be able to find their family with it? Or at least keep it as a souvenir? Well, here you have it. This one is Emma's, this is Elena's and this is Elsa's" she pointed one by one. "You were also wrapped in blankets…" she sighed. "I kept them, despite some people's ideas to put them to daily use, and then wanted to give you when you left, but you were pushed out before I came back from that PT month, so…" she shrugged. "Now, the funny thing about these blankets, you see, is, well. This one is Elsa's" she handed her a thick piece of woven wool with "ELSA" painted in fading blue in one corner "This one is Emma's" and the second blanket was knitted, with purple "EMMA" embroidered across one side "…and this one is Elena's".

What Elena actually was handed was not a blanket. It was, in fact, a big ball of white yarn with a tiny piece of paper stuck into it.

" _Her name is Elena. Make sure she gets this and knows that we didn't expect her, but we still love her._ "

Elena's voice broke on the last word.

"One of the reasons I hid them was that they were so… different" Annabella said. "Someone would have picked up on it and there would be no way to disprove that Elsa is not your sister. Also, it seemed unfair for Emma and Elsa to have theirs when we couldn't provide one for Elena. I'm a terrible knitter, I'm afraid."

Emma nodded slowly.

"They also would have gotten dirty and torn" she added. "I'd much rather have them now, when we can try to use them to - maybe - track down our families, than at the time. It's not that we had no link to our parents at all - we had each other, so it's not like with these kids whose only link are the clothes they were wearing."

Elena turned her wool ball a few times and sniffed it carefully.

"I think I will keep it like this" she decided finally. "I can knit, but I'd much rather have it as it came with me" she stuck the piece of paper where it was very carefully and hugged the whole non-blanket to herself.

"But…" Elsa started, looking at her. "If this paper says you were not expected, then maybe these people who were looking for little girls were not looking for me?!"

Emma blinked in surprise.

"Right. Because if our _parents_ weren't expecting Elena, then whoever else knew about the coming child would only be looking for _me_. Not for twins."

"And they must have lived in some pretty rural area if the first moment they knew there are twins was when you two were born" Annabella added. "At the beginning I thought you were born in some weird religious community and maybe out of wedlock - or they thought twins are brought by demons, or whatever else. But now that I see this all together…" she shook her head. "I'm positive, and I'm saying this as a descendant of a girl who escaped burning, point one, your parents - both sets - left you in that forest because that was safer, somehow. And point two, these people were looking for one of you. Maybe Elsa. Maybe Emma. Logically, it couldn't have been Elena, but still… They were only looking for a _single_ girl. So once you became a set, they lost your trail. Even when you were modelling, nobody came asking for you."

"You muddied the trail" Elena provided quietly. "Thank you."

"Well" Annabella shrugged. "Did what I could. Now, this is the last part, and if blankets can't tell you much - I wouldn't really expect them to - this may have more value. Both monetary and information-wise."

With this she pulled out three ziplock bags full of glittering trinkets.

* * *

They spent some time sifting through the jewelry in utter silence, as Annabella looked at them curiously and Henry stole a tiny figurine of a unicorn from Emma's stash and played with it on the table quietly.

"I must say" the older woman said slowly "You seem - I don't want to presume or to be patronising - uncommonly well-adjusted. We have a lot of children coming in much later than you did, already socialised, and then leaving unable to take care of themselves. We try as much as we can - and as we're allowed but the law - but most cases we just can't help at all. You three not only managed to stay on the right side of the law, get education and graduate, but you have actual jobs… and you have an actual family, with Henry. I must admit I am a little surprised."

Emma smiled, looking at Henry's dark head.

"The education part was your doing, so it's not so much of a challenge. Most kids don't have money for college, and you managed to get it for us."

Annabella snorted.

"If you hadn't had proper grades in the school, no amount of money would have helped you. Most other kids have been submitted for financial aid and scholarships, but even the ones who managed to get them mostly dropped off a year or two after leaving the home. I have a feeling we're not preparing you all too well for the realities of life, but…" she sighed. "We're not really allowed to. The System doesn't care, as long as you're clean and fed until 18th birthday and out of the list the day after."

"I think that's because there are three of us" Emma suggested. "If I was here alone, I would never have had good grades… I see myself running away, or doing stupid things, like other kids. Like the ones that got shipped back from their 'families' after the first offence. There were so many of them, leaving and coming back. If I got sent back like a faulty package, I would have been a bit resentful, too."

"And I only function socially thanks to these two" Elsa added. "Otherwise I'd have ended up on some couch - or as a drug addict - simply because I can't really work well with people."

"And they two balance me" Elena pointed out. "I know I'm volatile, because I can compare myself to them. Also, Emma has excellent aim and a well-thrown bottlecap is a great reality reminder if I get too involved in something."

"So, I suppose you could say that we're sane, stable and in a reasonable situation in life because you put the three of us together" Elsa smiled slightly. "Who knows what might have happened to us if had grown up separated."


	19. Just around the riverbend

Emma sat with her head in her hands, trying to work out the way to rationalise the very idea of going to Maine and searching for undefined spot full of supposedly lost fairytale characters, including their supposed parents.

They had good life in Boston.

They had their apartment and Henry had his school and friends.

They had each other, which had been quite enough of a family until now.

They had the stability of knowing what was what and who was who.

And suddenly, there was that guy, very honest and very sure of what he was saying, telling them to uproot everything and go chase fairies.

He was also promising them - at least two of them - their parents.

It seemed too good to be true.

It seemed way too complicated to be a hoax.

It seemed unfair to Elsa.

It also seemed like the only chance they'd ever have to understand what had happened to them.

They knew what August could tell them, true. But on the other hand, when he was sent away with them - if they believed him at all - he had been not much older than Henry was now, so he wasn't exactly an expert on the delicate details of Enchanted Forest, or whatever the place was called.

They had to check it out.

She banged her forehead softly on the tabletop.

She was supposed to just pick up their lives, unroot them, move everything to another state and find a town that doesn't want to be found.

She was supposed to then save said fairytale characters and make them remember who they were again. With no knowledge of magic, rules of the magical world, people they would be meeting or basically anything helpful. And the only person who could in fact help them was barely able to stand their presence due to an overwhelming itch in his wooden leg.

Henry.

Henry was the only one of them who actually saw the leg. Henry was the actual reason why she hadn't thrown August out that night. Her son saw something in August, he saw the leg and treated it as an obvious, real thing. He was apparently also slightly magical, or at least that was her guess.

She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to calm her thoughts.

She couldn't just order her sisters around, anyway. If she had that great destiny, maybe she should go on her own, leaving them and Henry back in safety and face the challenges of the strange world alone? The very thought of leaving Henry for any stretch of time made her heart constrict painfully and somehow she had that feeling that freeing a whole town of fairytale characters was not a thing she could just do during one weekend trip and then come back home and continue her life just as it was before.

She shivered at the thought.

_Elena has just as much right to go there as I have. These would be her parents, too, after all. And then we can't just leave Henry with Elsa, because she has to go to work and he has school… Also, it would look like we are abandoning Elsa, because it's not her family that's in danger…_

That was all so wrong. How she wished August had never found them. They could have been living normal lives, just like they did until he showed up. They could have continued on that good, well-worn path of being parents, employees, sisters. That was stable. That was known. That was sure and safe.

But the thought about Storybrooke seemed so enticing. To find out where they came from. To be the hero. Save her parents and everyone. Be not only a mother and never-exactly-best programmer in the team. To be a Saviour. To win something more significant than a library reading contest.

She _wanted_ to go. And she wanted to stay.

The surface of the tabletop was so shiny and brown. She traced one line of woodgrain softly with her fingers. It didn't really help, but it did calm down her slightly.

_Maybe it will work out. We'll be able to go to Maine and see what exactly August meant. Then we can leave before they get used to us, if the situation seems unsolvable._


	20. Who is the girl I see

Elsa was making use of the rare day when she was the last one to leave the apartment as she had a court meeting at eleven.

She was standing in front of the window and making faces. Trying to work out how in the world it might have happened that nobody noticed until now how _different_ she was from her so-called sisters.

Her face was more triangular, her hair tended to be whiter rather than blond, her eyes were set differently and their colour was of course… Blue. Not green.

She squeezed said eyes shut, trying to keep the treacherous tears from falling, but a painful drop or two was already rolling down her cheek.

And yes, her emotional reaction to everything was always quite different from Emma's and Elena's. Elena tended to take the obstacles with a shout and a kick, head-on into the adversity, hitting the opposition with a stick. With gusto. Emma was more measured and calmer, but allowed her feelings to take the better of her, from time to time, when situation forced her to.

Elsa couldn't. She never showed her anger. She never argued. She never swore - at least not in an uncalculated way. Every move was controlled, every word was thought through and even when sometimes she did something not exactly planned, it was always projecting the utter calm. Even menace. But never anger.

She directed all her anger inside.

She burned from the inside with all the stress of keeping herself on a leash. She never knew how to express her more violent emotions in a socially-acceptable way, so ever since she had gained some social graces - probably around middle of the first grade - she controlled herself to the utmost.

By now she knew it was not a healthy way to live, and she knew she would be paying for it sooner or later. But it was already too late and she found herself quite unable to let it go.

She swallowed and opened her eyes, looking at the woman in the mirror with pain-pricked eyes. Her eyes were slightly puffy, but she knew that in ten minutes she could make herself quite presentable and ready for the challenges of a working day.

A deep breath and…

"Don't be stupid" she said to her reflection. "We have to get Emma to that magical town and she'll need me to be the reasonable one."

Her reflection didn't roll her eyes, of course, but it seemed to present, quite clearly, her own doubt in her decisiveness.

"Yeah. I know. But we have to help her. And not because this may potentially lead me to my parents."

That hurt. Her parents. Apparently, Emma's and Elena's parents had a perfectly good explanation for dumping their daughters in that forest - in another reality - but every time she considered that, she couldn't but imagine her parents just getting rid of her, for some stupid reason. She had already been a _month_ old, after all. They had a _month_ with her and only then decided to send her away.

She could only hope her family, whatever it was, came from the same world as parents of her "sisters" and so she could hope that if they ever went back to their reality, she could try to track them down and find out what exactly had been going through their heads all these years ago.

She straightened her jacket and scarf, re-applied eyeliner and a bit of colour and checked herself out in the mirror again. _Yes. Quite enough of this. Work doesn't wait_.


	21. What she cooks like

"So, I was thinking, do you have time tomorrow evening?"

"You'll do it?" his voice sounded rather hopeful.

She snorted.

"Not so sure. But we are considering it. However, we won't go in without, well. Intel. So, if you have time tomorrow, we could sit together and discuss the next steps. Because, well" Elena made a rude noise "I'm not letting my sister get herself made into some hero out of legend without proper preparation. We're going nowhere until we get as much info as we can."

He could only agree.

* * *

Henry was properly asleep by the time August arrived, so they quietly sat around the kitchen table and sipped tea, as August prepared himself for the coming barrage of questions.

"Tell us all you know. Just, everything. You can skip the obvious parts, but we need to know what are the specific differences between 'our' fairy tales and the actual magical world. Like, does every tale have their own universe?"

"Or what exactly is the structure of government."

"Or who are the most likely allies and how do we recognise them."

He swallowed his tea and put the cup away very carefully.

"Well, you've read all these fairy tales, and I suppose you've watched a bunch of Disney and other cartoons. Basically, well. They match, here and there. Partially. But..." he sighed "You can't rely on them. I will tell you what I know, but that might not be all that you're going to need."

* * *

"Engaged to King Midas' daughter?"

* * *

"She _hit_ him?"

* * *

"Hatch? Out of _eggs_?"

"Hey, I'm made out of a fireplace log."

* * *

"A real, life-sized dragon?"

"I have no idea, I've never seen one. Especially being exterminated…"

* * *

"So, our step-grandmother is the evil queen and our mother is the good bright princess…"

"Well, the queen now."

"OK. So, do we have a complex family situation or what."

* * *

"And she cursed everyone, wholesale? Nobody was left in the old world?"

August shrugged.

"No idea, I'm afraid. She might have just taken the kingdom, or several around it, or whole reality. But she wouldn't have been able to fit the whole reality in one small town, so I'm leaning more towards 'everyone around who annoyed her at some point'. Seems more like her. She would be able then to control everything that happens to everyone she hates."

"And these other kingdoms would be what?"

"Related to the Disney or fairy tales, I've been able to identify Sleeping Beauty's kingdom. Doesn't really have its own name, at least not one I know. And there is the land of the fairies, where they have the dwarfs harvest the fairy dust. It's not a kingdom in itself, but it is like a little independent piece of land. And there is the kingdom of king George, where your father came from. She probably reached at least that far. There were a lot of people that annoyed her there."

Emma leaned back on the sofa and rubbed her stomach.

"I'm calling a technical break. Anyone hungry?"

Elsa shrugged noncommittally, but Elena immediately perked up.

"Sure! That new Asian place has fabulous spring rolls!"

August made a face.

"Don't you have some acceptable pizza spot around here?"

They froze for just a second.

"We _never_ order pizza."

"Not anymore."

"Chinese, definitely Chinese."

He looked at each in turn and finally shrugged.

"Ok, fine with me. Something spicy with lots of noodles for me, please."

* * *

They chewed in silence, passing the sauce containers around and pouring the drinks quietly, both to avoid waking Henry and to give everyone a chance to think through the new information.

Finally Elena put her empty box back on the table and looked at August expectantly.

"Can you tell us what they look like?"

He blinked.

"Who?"

"Our parents, of course. I'd like to be able to recognise my mother when I see her, you know. It would make the whole thing much easier."

He pursed his lips.

"Your mother - and now I'm speaking as someone who knew her long ago, and was a rather attention-starved little boy - was the loveliest woman I've seen. There were many pretty ladies at the court, but Snow White _is_ the fairest of them all, no question. She's not as insipid as the one in the movie, and I've never seen her bake anything, but she shoots her bow very well, and she's good with her sword. She's… Black hair, that's of course the part that's correct in the tale. Don't know about the milk and the roses - or blood - part, she always seemed generally, well, human-pinkish to me. Caucasian, we'd say in police speak. Her hair was long, maybe down to her waist, a mass of curls. I always admired it, and she wore it in different ways, but there was always a _lot_ of it."

He sipped his soda in silence for a moment.

"She smiled, a lot. With dimples. And she loved children and small animals. When I was at the Palace, with my father, she always had something prepared for me - a toy, or some piece of clothing that she thought my Papa wouldn't think of. After all, I spent so much time as a puppet, he kind of forgot sometimes I was a real person now."

"And our father?" Emma leaned forward, looking at him intently.

"I worshipped him" August sighed. "He… He was a _real_ hero. A warrior, but not like the soldiers, who get paid and just do what they are told, but, well. Real actual hero, who defeated a dragon, and saved a kingdom. Big thing. And he taught me how to fence. Of course, we used wooden swords, and from the perspective of twenty-plus years I see he was just humouring my need to play at grownup things, but he _did_ spend time with me, even though he was an actual _king_. I don't think many rulers would do something like this. He was tall. Definitely taller than your mother - but well, that is more or less a common thing, women are shorter in more primitive civilisations. Blond, so I think you inherited your colouring from him. I remember watching him, in his military uniform, he looked like a historical figure from some portrait" he trailed off. "I wish I could draw, you could take the pictures and check against them."

Elena patted his arm.

"No worries. It's still much more than we had."

"And what about the others? The Evil Queen, court members?"

He grimaced.

"Some of them didn't look like humans - or not much, anyway - so I'd be guessing they either aren't in the town or they are turned human, somehow. So I don't see a way to identify fairies or Jiminy Cricket based on their old look. But the Evil Queen… She's very, well… Straight. I mean, she holds herself very stiffly. She has black hair, which she mostly wore in very complicated hairdos, and I mean, like, fantasy bad-guy fancy. The only thing I can think of is… she has this tiny little scar, on her lip. No idea what caused it, but it's there. Visible, unless she covers it with like an inch of makeup."

The girls looked at each other.

"Well, so the Evil Queen is either a woman with a small scar on her lip, or the local mime?"

He snorted and nodded, grinning.

For a moment, they all sipped their drinks, deep in thought.

Suddenly, when it seemed there was nothing else to say, Elsa leaned towards August and asked quietly "What does your father look like?"

His eyes filled with tears.


	22. Patch of heaven

Emma hauled semi-asleep Henry up the stairs, holding his prone form steady on her hip. She cursed the breaking elevator more than ever before, as three flights of steep steps were a bit of a pain to traverse with a sick kid.

She juggled her handbag, her son, her phone and her keys for a moment before she managed to open the door without dropping any of these objects (she considered for a moment sitting Henry on the floor and propping him against the wall…) and was finally home. She carefully deposited Henry on the living room sofa, took off his shoes and covered him with his favourite furry blanket. Only then she could collapse bonelessly into an armchair and unclench her fists.

_I don't think I want to repeat today, ever._

Henry had gotten sick during the second period.

In fact, half of his class had been coughing, sneezing and had teary eyes. Some smaller children had already developed fever by the time the parents were called in to pick them up.

Henry's face was flushed and he was breathing heavily, so she turned him on his side and started calling doctors, angrily deducting the money she would have to spend for a home visit from her monthly budget. Still, it was much better for Henry _not_ to be taken to a clinic and she could afford it, even if it was a bit annoying to spend so much.

* * *

About three hours later a very perplexed young man was listening to Henry's chest sounds and nodding slowly with concern.

"We've been having this all over this side of Boston. Children, preschool, early school, getting very asthma-like symptoms. There is some research being started as to why, but the general suggestion is, it's pollution and the weather getting warmer. Combine into it plant pollen and kids spending more time outdoors at school and we have a wide-spectrum set of aggressive agents. Everyone is getting hit, if they are short enough. Plus the pollution, the whole thicker part of air is getting kept close to the ground, so mostly kids are affected, and if it gets warm enough, it may take even a few hours for them to develop symptoms."

He packed the bag and started scribbling on a prescription pad.

"He has to drink a lot, and give him this syrup for coughing – and I mean, to make him cough up this crud, actually. He _should_ cough, and sneeze, to get rid of excess, or he could get pneumonia, if the mucus gets into the lungs. And, if you can, get out of the city. I tell this to all the parents. You at least live on the third floor, so you're actually better off than families who have houses, because you're higher over the ground. If he's doing OK at school, take him out, doctor's orders, and find some place in the country. Otherwise we'll probably meet again, at the hospital."

* * *

Henry was sleeping, curled up on one side, as Emma finished her last technical document of the day, sitting next to his bed on the floor. Door squeaked open and both her sisters tiptoed in.

"Is he doing any better?"

She shrugged and reached out to test his forehead and neck.

"No fever, but he is tired and he was coughing for the whole afternoon. The doctor said it was a good thing, as it makes him get rid of the mucus, but it made him rather miserable."

Elsa sighed and sat on the floor next to Emma, leaning her head on her sister's knee.

"Do you ever get tired of the Great Destiny that awaits you?"

"Great Destinies make for very good Great Funerals" Elena provided morosely.

"Come on! Stop saying that! We'll help her kick the curse's ass – or whatever that a curse may have – and she'll be done in next to no time. And we'll all live happily ever after."

"Shh" Emma pointed to Henry.

"Sorry. But, I mean. August – Pinocchio – said that magic will be prompting us to do certain things, right?"

Emma took off her reading glasses and looked down at Elsa's bowed head.

"What happened?"

Elsa sniffed quietly.

"The firm is splitting up. And they are getting rid if a third of the staff."

"Including you" Emma sighed.

"Including me, in a way. Celia asked me to stay as an off-site consultant – they will send cases my way for pre-reading and analysis. They just can't keep me on normal contract for court work. I'm supposed to hand all my cases over to Catherine and Maya and stop coming to the office starting Monday in two weeks. She promised to keep me in enough work to make it a fair deal, but she can't guarantee they will always be interesting. Or even challenging. So I'll probably be getting a lot of very standard crap."

Elena snorted.

"At least your guys have a proper reason. Ours are closing the Boston office and officially ordering everyone to work from home, because – and I kid you not – the waste disposal in the building failed and due to large-scale contamination of the offices nobody is allowed in the office until the security and health inspectors are done with it. They will probably require the building managers to redo the floors and part of the walls, and also decontaminate the air conditioning and all installations. Probably tear out some of power installation too, considering it was covered in, well. The effect of waste disposal going wrong."

Emma blinked.

"You mean the toilets flooded the office?"

"Flooded, ha! This was a bloody deluge. Shitty deluge, more like. And there was no Ark to sail away in. We barely got out with our personal stuff, they were hurrying us so quickly. I have my laptop and all my papers, but some were not so lucky. Cristine lost her pair of ballet flats, the ones she was using in the office. They got _stuck_ to the floor."

"Ick" Elsa made a gagging sound.

"Oh, yeah. It is so. I suggest if you have any kind of business with someone from my office block, just… don't. Especially not if they invite you to the office."

"I won't be having any business with anyone soon, considering Celia just put me on strict home office, no client contact. I'm still better of than the guys from next office down the corridor – they just got fired, no options, no contract change. The old fart Maxwell just decided he'll be keeping his assistant and just a part of the cases and so he's just letting the boys go."

"This all sounds massively idiotic" Emma finally provided. "And I mean both these cases. A law firm splitting after how many years? What are they going to do with the cases, split equally? Who will pick up the slack after the missing people? What will happen to the building?"

Elsa rolled her eyes. "No idea really. Not that I had a chance to ask. I was just glad to get off with some work that will pay – easy task and clean options."

"And your office is just letting employees work from home?" Emma turned to the other sister. "There will be no backup office rented. Nobody really cares who works how and delivers what. Will there be any oversight? Management checks on their subordinates?"

Elena shrugged.

"I suppose it's hard to keep people performing at high level without some kind of direct control, and they were planning to make this kind of virtual teams thing, including daily meetings with reports and all. But our boss has actually left this week on a sabbatical…"

Emma rolled her eyes and rubbed her eyes with her thumbs.

"Am I the only one seeing a pattern here?"

Elsa looked up at her and shrugged.

"Probably. As usual."

Emma counted to five silently.

"Do you see all these three things happening together on one day as a coincidence? Because what _I_ see is a lot of magic used to get us to agree to something. It makes me itch, like a storm brewing. I _hate_ that feeling."

"We're getting manipulated."

"By some stupid force which has _plans_ for Emma."

They sat in silence for a moment, Elena leaning on Emma's other side and all three thinking worriedly.

"Do you suppose we should go along, or should we rather try to work against it?" Emma asked finally. "I mean, _I hate_ being manipulated. You two, too."

"But on the other hand, whatever is doing it, it _is_ making it easier for us to leave Boston – whichever direction we choose once out of town. We were all worrying about Henry's school and our work…"

"And I know you two were worried that I won't be able to leave the firm, because my job is the least mobile" Elsa added quietly. "And however much I dislike being treated like a pawn on the board and just moved here and there by an unknown force, it makes it so much easier to pick up everything and move now than it was yesterday."

Emma combed through Elsa's hair with her fingers, making soothing patterns on her sister's scalp.

"Yes. Now it seems we could just pack everything, load up the car and go."

Elena scowled and undid her hair tie, sighing with relief at having her hair finally free.

" _I_ think we should plan. Properly. We have enough information from August to make some approximation as to where the whole Storybrooke may be, but we still didn't put anything specific on the map."

"Actually, I did" Emma said, a bit hesitantly. "I made a program that eliminated parts of the map based on the characteristics August provided. It's supposed to be twenty miles from any other civilisation, so I made the program identify cities, towns and smaller settlements and "draw" a twenty-mile radius circle from the centre of it. I must say, after careful elimination not much is left. Especially as this town needs to be of reasonable size… And in some of the places left there are hills, or bare dry patches that don't qualify for a town of any size. Basically, I see only this one strip of a road as our potential aim. It's something around fifty miles of the road, so not that much to search through."

Elena gaped at her, mouth open.

"My sister, the programming genius!"

"What is fifty miles of a good road?" Elsa quoted to nobody in particular.

"Whatever it is, it is far, far from here" Emma mumbled morosely and leaned back on the couch. "When I think about leaving this place, I get goosebumps. The bad kind. I just hate thinking about actually moving that far away."

Elsa patted her knee.

"But we have a chance of finding your family. Think about it. We can always pay for the flat to be kept reserved for us for, maybe, half a year, and put the stuff in storage to avoid burglars. And if we want to stay there after that time, well, we can drive over here and order some movers… or if this doesn't work out, we'll have a place to come back to."

Emma sighed and closed her eyes.

"I just feel that if we leave it's like leaving behind the safe hideout and going into this bad, cold, strange world out there. We'll be away from everything we know - work, school, shops, cinemas… do they even have a cinema in that Storybrooke? How would they get new copies of movies if they are magically hidden away from the rest of the world? Will cellphones work? Do they have a hospital? A school? A hotel?"

Elsa shivered slightly.

"Do they have net access? We can't work without at least access to e-mail."

Elena fished a notepad out of her voluminous bag.

"Let's make a proper list of all stuff we'd need. I just hope they have electricity, because if I'm supposed to wash my clothes by hand, I'm outta there in three days. Tops."


	23. I Wanna Try Everything

Elena was staring dumbfounded at the until-now chipped cup in her hands.

"Elsa…?" she managed to utter finally. "Could you… could you have a look?"

Elsa looked in faint interest from the sofa, but seeing Elena sitting motionlessly, she rose and approached the kitchen table.

"The cup?" she asked, picking it up.

"Yeah" Elena licked her lips. "I think I just fixed it."

"Well, that's what Henry asked you to do, right? To glue it together?"

"I didn't use the glue."

Silence in the kitchen started to feel a little oppressive.

"How did you do it then?"

"I was just trying to see if there aren't any small pieces missing. I fitted the chipped chunk to the cup and tried to make it sit flush with the rest and then there was this snap in my head and the chip was in. No seam even. No sign of it ever being broken in any way."

Elsa carefully took the cup and put it on the shelf, then sat in front of Elena.

"Did you feel left out?" she asked directly, putting her hand on her sister's.

A deep sigh was the only answer.

"Did you look for the magic inside you?"

A shrug.

"Did you just discover, by accident, that you in fact have some kind of magic and got very scared?"

A nod.

"So now you know what Emma and I felt when August dumped that whole 'You use magic' thing on us. Or rather, when we finally believed him."

Elena shuddered slightly and nodded again.

"Now, we can deal with it in two ways. We can ignore it and see if it happens again by itself, or we can try seeing what it is that you can do. I know, it sounds a bit too logical for someone who had just discovered that their sister is, in fact, a witch - or whatever it is that we are - but I've had a few weeks to consider mine and Emma's talents already and we've tried it out, checking what it is exactly that we can do, so I've had some experience in this by now."

"You do?" Elena sounded a bit surprised, so Elsa just shrugged.

"We didn't want to bother you with it, as it seemed to be a bit, well. Unkind. To advertise what we have and you don't. Which means now that you do have it, well. We have some experience and we can help you research."

"Research. Into magic. Your logical brain applied to that magical mess?"

"It's not a mess. It follows some rules and it is limited by specific laws. Emma's power, for example, only applies to someone talking directly in her presence, and it works better if she sees them. So, watching a movie is not a problem, as the people on the screen aren't there. If we went to see a play, she would probably feel a twinge - that was what happened when Henry was in the play at school, we're guessing - but because nobody there is in fact trying to trick someone into believing them, it doesn't trigger all her alarms. On the phone it's tough, but she guesses two times out of three, depending on the quality of connection."

Elena blinked and looked at her hands.

"And what do you want me to do then?"

"I'm guessing, but that would probably need to wait for Emma, that you can stick things together. So we can check what it is that works for you the best."

After a few tries of putting different things together, then stopping for the time to prepare dinner and to pick up Henry, then waiting nervously for Emma and then working with Emma, they managed to arrive at a conclusion.

Late in the night, when Henry was already sleeping after a healthy dose of bedtime reading - as usual recently, fairytales, doubling research with pleasure - Emma drew a big red minus sign next to another suggestion and looked at Elena tiredly.

"One thing they all have in common is simple. You can't stick together things that were not together in the first place. Basically, you can fix what's broken and that's it."

Elsa snorted.

"That's it? Emma, wake up! If she can mend broken things, she can basically do anything, like mend bones!"

"Ah, we don't know. We just checked on inanimate stuff."

Elsa reached behind her without looking and broke off a leaf from the small basil plant on the window.

"Ellie, try this" she handed the piece of herb over the table.

"Sure" Elena shrugged. "Can you give me the pot?" she reached towards Elsa.

Suddenly there was a small 'blorp' sound.

The plastic pot appeared in Elena's hand, leaking dirty water all over the table. She could only stare at her hands as the leaf appeared to straighten itself and reconnect with the parent plant with a tiny, wet-sounding 'smack'.

"Eep" was the only comment Elsa managed in reaction to that.

"Eep" Emma confirmed, hand with the pencil shaking as she put the notepad slowly on the chair next to her.

"Eep."

The leaf looked just as healthy as before and not even the tiniest line marred the place where it was connected to the stem.

The puddle of dirty water on the table and the empty saucer on the windowsill were however a very definitive proof for the fact that Elena had just teleported the missing part into her hands.

"That's… new" Emma finally managed.

"I wonder what that means for us" Elsa added, taking the pot out of Elena's motionless hands. "Do we also have additional talents - or other ways of how the current ones can work?"

Elena hiccoughed.


	24. Bare necessities

"We go?"

Emma sighed and finally smiled thinly.

"We go. If we don't, we'll drive ourselves crazy. You know, Narnia-style. What would have happened had we gone and checked. So we go, we check, we try to help. If it doesn't work out, we still have our apartment or money to rent something else somewhere else. If we don't find the town in reasonable time, we locate nearest civilisation and make base there. If we…"

"I see your point" Elsa leaned forward and prodded the notepad with one finger. "What is that?"

"That, my dear, are our plans. All we have to pack to storage, all we have to pack to take, all we have to do to secure the flat. Also, all we have to buy to make that road trip reasonably comfortable. Neck pillows, portable fridge, stuff for Henry to do, because he just managed to go through that last math puzzle book today, out of sheer boredom. Stuff we have to verify we have, like all types of power cables and a portable modem - I'm sure we had one, but I can't find it. Also, stuff we're not supposed to even try to pack, to avoid taking space."

"I've written down everything that August told us" Elena dropped her bullet-journal-calendar-notebook on the table. "I'm now putting it in a cross-referenced library on my laptop, but we have a hardcopy, just in case. All the history, whatever he remembered of the internal and foreign politics, local heroes, everything. And the descriptions of our persons of interest."

Emma patted Elsa's hand.

"By the way, I forgot to tell you, but… that was well done, Elsie."

Elsa blinked.

"What do you mean?"

"We got… so caught up with August describing our parents that neither of us ever thought to ask him about his father. And you did. I could say, you saved the honour of the royal family, covering the debt we have to our loyal servant" Emma snorted finally. "Really, you made the guy happy. And we gain one more good description of our parents' ally. One of the few we can trust to apply in this world, by what August says."

Elsa shrugged uncomfortably.

"It seemed like a reasonable thing to do. This way we can check for Gepetto first thing and let August at least know if his father is there, and how he's doing."

"And you've gained yourself an ardent admirer" Elena poked her in the ribs. "All he did for the rest of the evening was stare at you in wonder."

"Gee, Lena. Thank you. Yes, the only guy that thinks I'm an interesting woman is a wooden puppet. Superb. It's not like I was counting on this, come on. I just wanted to make sure he knew it will be taken care of. He was rather nervous, after all."

"The ice queen has feelings for the wooden puppet" Elena giggled and poked her again. "You care for him!"

"It's obvious that you're a month younger than me" Elsa said in a tired voice. "I feel soooo much older."

* * *

"What do we take?"

Emma checked her list and added a few objects to the pile.

"Clothes for a week. We can hope for a laundromat or maybe a hotel with a laundry room after that. More for Henry, who know how many changes he will go through in one day. Also, his stuff takes much less space than ours, so we can afford the volume" she turned a page. "Four full sleeping sets. A tent. Camping cooking gear. Just in case. I don't want to sleep in the rough, but we may need to. First aid kits, one small and one large. Two termoinsulated picnic baskets for food."

"Where do you want to put all of this? Even our car may be too small, if you include Henry's gear, electronics, tools, some books…"

Emma turned a page.

"We'll buy a roof container. It should be good for the camping gear and other stuff we won't want to unpack every night. Actually, I've already ordered one online. With setup service, so no worries about fitting various screws as needed, they'll send someone to mount it for us. I don't want repetition of the bike rack tragedy."

Elena shuddered, recalling the day they almost lost their bikes in the middle of nowhere due to mis-aligned screws in the bike attachment.

"And the fridge goes into the trunk" Elsa added happily. "It's connected to the lighter socket there, so it can stay powered during the drive."

"I see you already have all the gear you need" Elena smirked. "Have you packed it full of water, or not yet?"

Elsa poked her in the shoulder with a finger.

"You'd better focus on taking your yoga mat and the staff, and let me worry about ice water. We may need you to bash some unsuspecting fiend's head with it."

"I'm strapping it to the side railing on the roof. Enough velcro and it should stay in place. Otherwise we'll be riding with it sticking all the way through the car, between our heads."

Emma flipped a few more pages.

"You two, stop bickering, and pack, each a minimum set of clothes for a week, full change. Consider poor conditions - it may rain, or there may be a problem with laundry. Seven or eight of everything. Then add a bit of warmer wear - a sweater, tights, maybe snow overalls. Who knows what that town looks like. Maybe it's all Wild West, so they walk on earthen streets covered with cow manure."

"Or maybe even medieval, so there will be a lot of crap, literally, lying on the streets" Elsa added with a shudder.

"Anyway, consider weird things that may happen. My gear is here" Emma pointed to a large shoulder bag, sitting by the door. "I'm adding a second bag like this with the warmer clothes, rainproof jacket… Also, add several pairs of shoes. Same reason…"

"Yep" both her sisters said instantly and turned to their rooms.

"I'll pack my rubber shoes" Elsa made a face. "Juuust in case."

* * *

Henry used the school-free days to sleep late, walk around the house in his pyjamas and fluffy socks until someone noticed and got him to change, lie around on the sofas, coughing from time to time and try to understand what was going on around him.

"Mum?" he sidled up to Emma on the couch. "Are we leaving because of me? Because I got sick?"

She hugged him tightly to her side.

"No, not really. At least not only. But Elena and Elsa had their jobs changed due to all these weird accidents, and I've already been working remotely, and with you sick we have no more reason to stay in Boston. You'd only get worse. Actually, it's half of your class, too. Their parents are moving outside of the city or to smaller towns. So it's not like you'd get your old classmates if you went back to your old school next fall."

He sighed.

"That's sad. If they move far enough, I may never actually meet them again."

Emma picked him up and pulled into her lap.

"If you want to keep in touch with someone specific, I can ask your teacher to give me their parents' number, so you can call them."

He shrugged.

"Not really. Phone is not much fun. I could go to the playground with Tommy or Sasha, but I suppose they are moving, too…"

She hugged him closer.

"I will take these phone numbers anyway and when we're next in Boston, we can call them. Meanwhile, I hope we can find some nice kids in Maine. I'm sure there will be someone you can play with."

He only leaned on her arm and closed his eyes.

"It will be nice to stop coughing."

* * *

Elena was standing in the middle of their tiny kitchen-cum-dining room and considering the big box of cooking and baking implements she was trying to close.

"Don't pack half of the kitchen. We need to take only the basics. Kettle, a pan or two, a pot. The picnic basket with all the lunch plates in. It all must somehow fit into the trunk. The only things I'll allow inside the car are backpacks and Henry's stuff" Emma sounded rather tired

"Do you expect that we'll have a chance to cook on the way? I was kind of resigned and though we'll go for, well. Diners."

Emma gave Elsa a reproachful glare.

"Maybe we'll have to do this during the drive, but in that Storybrooke place, or wherever we find ourselves, I expect us to rent an apartment, and to have a proper household. For Henry's sake, even if we don't really need it. But I don't think we need three muffin tins and your collection of silicon cake molds, Elena. So please, take them out of your backpack and add to the box going to the storage."

"You're assuming it is a modern kind of town that rents apartments and not huts" Elena made a face. "If it is some kind of medieval implant in Maine, it may make sense to bring everything with us, including kitchen tools."

Emma rubbed her face.

"Yes, I'm assuming - maybe wrongly - that whoever transplanted themselves and these people to Maine in XX century, did it in fact in order to make use of said XX century luxuries. Maybe it's a wrong assumption, but if I even try to consider the Renaissance option, I'm getting shivers down my back. Just thinking about the toilet solutions gives me nightmares."

"You're more afraid of a lousy toilet situation than of a curse, evil queen and black magic?"

"I can imagine bad toilet situation. The other ones, no. So I'm afraid of what I know is scary."


	25. Life is a highway

The main luggage had been packed and repacked, removing unnecessary garments and appliances, adding a few survival items and replacing chosen gear with smaller, more compact versions.

They emptied the apartment of all personal items and left information with the building manager that they would be coming back in four months. They signed an agreement for the apartment to be leased for a short term to someone else, with the proviso that that person would clear the place in sixteen weeks.

Emma's aim was to be done with the whole curse-breaking before it interfered with Henry's schooling, or to know in a definite way that they were unable to deal with the problem and to remove themselves from the area. There weren't that many other options.

Even the curse-breaking thing seemed more like a wish than a plan.

* * *

_"Everyone is leaving. All the parents are taking their kids out for early vacation" the building manager said, filing the documents. "Some are coming back in fall, but I've heard rumours that there are a lot of families just moving out, not planning to return. My granddaughter is in seventh grade and her class lost five kids this last month. Their younger siblings got sick and parents just packed up the whole house and moved - anywhere, but outside Boston. It's as if this part of town became toxic to the small ones"_

_"Well, that's why we're taking Henry away for the summer" Elsa smiled and signed another page of the contract. "He got rather ill during that heatwave and doctor suggested he needs a change of climate."_

_"But you'll be coming back?"_

_She shrugged._

_"It depends on Henry. And what kind of a place we manage to find out there."_

_"So you don't know where you're going?"_

_Elena handed him her part of the papers._

_"In general, we know. A friend suggested a tiny town where his father lives - it's supposedly in the middle of nowhere, so we can hope it's more likely to be a clean area."_

_The managed nodded._

_"We're sending the grandkids away next week. Big, small - they will all go to my sister's place, in the country. Parents are signing them out of the school early, even the ones with poorer grades. My daughter will be taking the van and driving the whole bunch there next weekend. I think it's better to be healthy than to have best grades. They can always study with their aunt, but they won't get any better from staying here."_

_"Absolutely" Emma smiled at him tiredly. "That's what we decided for Henry. He's not going to school anyway, so what difference does it make?"_

* * *

The car was packed so high, Elena heartily blessed the proximity alarm they had installed on the back bumper. Otherwise she had no idea how she would have managed to get out of their tight parking space - she couldn't see anything through the back of the car.

There were all the planned bags and boxes in the trunk and on the seats, plus some definitely unplanned items. Henry somehow managed to smuggle his soccer ball into the car, which they only found two hours after leaving Boston. Emma crammed two more programming textbooks into her "hand luggage" and was holding them uncomfortably in front of her, trying to behave as if they weren't poking her in the stomach. Elsa was sitting in the back with Henry, so Elena couldn't really see what was going on there, but she was quite sure there was some contraband stashed in her backpack, too.

That was because her own bag, placed between Elsa and Henry, had a few silicon moulds discreetly stuffed into internal pockets.

* * *

They stopped in front of a motorway diner for a technical break and Henry's second breakfast. He chewed his apple and looked around.

"Where are we going? Tammy and Tessa said their parents were taking them somewhere to the seaside to get better. Are we going to the seaside, too?"

Emma sat next to him on a bench.

"We are actually going to… There is a little town, far away from everything, that we want to find. August told us there is a chance our family might live there, you see. So we kind of used the fact that the doctor told us to get you out of the city and we're going for a longer trip. We need to find it, because apparently someone forgot to put it on any map, so it may be a bit of driving… There may be some forest and there may be seaside, we're not sure yet."

"Ah" he sat in silence for a moment, working on the apple. "What's the name of that town?"

"August says it's called Storybrooke."

"Sounds funny."

* * *

"We'll have to find a place for the night. We've driven that stretch of the road like five times today already and I'm feeling like someone is making fun of me. Henry is asleep and it's not healthy for him to sleep sitting up for too long" Emma gripped the steering wheel more tightly.

Elsa tapped her phone a few times and looked around.

"The road on the navigation looks a bit different, but I think we should be about a mile from a motel I see marked here. We could spend the night, eat hot breakfast and continue tomorrow. And the kid needs to sleep on something flat, definitely. Or his spine will grow all crooked."

Emma rolled her eyes and sped up a bit, looking for a sign to the motel.

* * *

Beds were. There was not much more that could have been said about them, but they were. Emma transferred sleeping Henry from the car to the room - luckily, on ground floor - and stripped his clothes off as much as she had to, before rolling him under a blanket. She tucked his travelling teddy bear into the crook of his arm and added another blanket on top, just in case there was a draft.

Elsa lugged her and Emma's backpacks into the room and looked around.

"Cosy. I hope there are no bugs."

"That would be a bit more than cosy" Elena commented, hauling her own bag and Henry's. "Nah, looks tolerably clean. Emma, you go take a shower and we'll get something to eat ready. You'll need to be up first anyway - Henry's been asleep for more than three hours, so I'm betting he'll be up with the sunrise, and he _will_ start asking questions the moment he opens his eyes."

They managed to put together a decent imitation of a dinner, including some hot tea thanks to the electric kettle and some ice tea thanks to the trunk fridge, so finally, an hour or so after booking in, they were stretched on their beds and staring idly at the ceiling.

"I'm not sure what to do tomorrow" Emma sighed finally. "We go to the same piece of the road and what, try believing in fairies, very strongly? Or maybe we should clap?"

"We go there and we drive slowly, looking for clues" Elena yawned. "Maybe there is some mark where the normal world ends and the magical one starts. I'm wondering how it's done. Is it a wormhole that goes through the whole city, so we drive in at one end and pop out on the other side? Or is it somehow shielded and we actually drive straight through the town, not seeing it? Can we run over someone? Have an accident with an unseen car?"

Elsa groaned.

"Now I'll be thinking about imaginary dogs dying under our wheels all the time I'm driving. Thanks, Lena. That's helpful."

"Hey, I'm just thinking aloud."

"It sounds more like _not_ thinking. Really, we don't need any additional stress now. We need to find a town that doesn't exist on a map, in an area that looks like no town had ever been there, without a guide or any real knowledge or even without being reasonably sure it is there. Are you sure it is here? I'm not, not really. So please, let's not add more levels of discomfort to the whole thing, because it won't make the whole thing any quicker."

There was a short, uncomfortable silence.

"Eh. Sorry."

"Yeah. Me too."

Emma snored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Five more chapters to repost.  
> So, any thoughts? Anyone even got that far? :)


	26. Almost there

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A child is found in the woods

Second day of the journey was, to say the least, unexciting. They were cruising to and fro on the same 50 miles - plus side roads, which almost never led to anything specific - and were growing really, really bored. And angry.

* * *

Elena finally pulled out her crocheting and the small stash of colourful squares of cotton was slowly growing in her yarn bag.

"Seriously, you have to do it right now?" Emma rolled her eyes, as her sister bit off another end of thread.

"I want to _stab_ something. It's either this, or I start biting the upholstery. This whole thing is driving me crazy, so I _need_ something to do. I feel largely useless, as we just drive up and down this road. Also, my fingers tingle and I have to either hook some more squares or start testing my magic. Which one do you prefer?" she made a short nod towards mostly oblivious Henry.

Emma sighed. "OK, but after the next stop, you're driving."

* * *

The thick book in Emma's handbag turned out to be not actually a programming textbook. Actually, it was something completely different.

"Mitnick's book? Why would you read this? I thought you weren't so much into the hacking stuff?"

Emma shrugged.

"It's more psychology than technology, at least as far as I got in it. And it's fascinating to see how his brain works."

"Geez. I though you were so proper and responsible…"

"Come on. It's not like I'll start hacking stuff just because I read this book. I'd probably have to be a much better programmer to make use of actual technology… And much more of a people person to be able to use this psychology stuff effectively."

* * *

Elsa was singing. First, it was just a hum, then some whistling - the Queen of the Night aria seemed particularly annoying in a small space of the car, in Elena's opinion.

Then she switched to a Disney medley, which made Henry laugh like a loon at all the faces she pulled, including the haughty Ursula and wide-eyed innocence of Snow White.

Emma was trying to focus on the road - quite empty, but still it was not a task that one could ignore - and losing badly, listening to Elsa making all the needed voices in "Gaston" and then "Something There".

* * *

"We need to stop and eat" Emma growled. "I know it's too early for lunch, but we were up at half past six, so it's kind of time for it."

_Also, we'll start killing each other if we are stuck in the car one more hour. It never seemed that annoying in the flat. Maybe the car just has bad acoustics…_

Very soon, Henry's cheeks were painted with tomato sauce and he had a slice of sausage clinging to the front of his t-shirt. The grownups were in slightly better condition, with Emma's blouse being lightly seasoned with a spatter of mayo and Elsa managing to spill half a glass of water down her trousers.

Elena carefully cut up and ate her piece of pizza, managing to stay moderately clean and dry, so, in what Emma later deemed a rather obvious outcome, a faucet in the toilet broke off and sprayed her with icy water from head to toe.

"I think someone is telling us to move" Elena said, dripping angrily. "And I will find her and kick her so hard she'll be sticking her tampons into her ears."

"Why would someone stick a tampon in their ear?" Henry's bright voice asked from just behind her. "And what's a tampon?"

* * *

At seven, Elsa sat down on the grass by the road and refused to move. Even despite all the evil looks Emma could throw her way.

"My legs have gone numb, my backside is sore and I have to sit for a moment on something that doesn't have an engine, OK? Also, I need air. Air, not air conditioning."

Emma finally shrugged and undid Henry's seatbelt snaps and handed him out of the car.

"Just don't go farther than where Elsa's sitting. And don't touch any animals that you find. And if…"

He went running before she finished the sentence.

Elena was stretching on her yoga mat on the grass.

"We do need our blood circulation, Emma. We can't just drive around all day and then fall on a bed, we need to walk and move our legs."

"Yeah, I know. I just… I can't sit still. It's here, somewhere. I know it. At least, the computer simulation says it's here, so we don't have much choice."

"What if we apply different conditions? Smaller radius around known cities, this kind of thing?"

"August said _twenty miles_."

"He said that was what the magicians he found told him. Maybe they meant twenty kilometres? Or some other miles?"

"Don't start. If we don't find the place here, there is another spot, north of here, which was also a probability. It's way smaller and in the middle of open land, so… I just hoped it will be the forest. But I can't start doubt the accuracy of what August told us, because once I do, then maybe it's not twenty, maybe it's ten. Or not in Maine at all. Or maybe not in the US. I have to keep believing what he said is correct and work from there. Otherwise I'll simply go crazy from having too many options. This whole thing is getting on my nerves a bit, and having too many options makes me even more nervous."

She breathed deeply and leaned on the car.

"The problem is, if we find it, we find it, but if we don't find it, we can't be sure it's not there. It may still be there and we'd have just missed it. I feel like we just need one more drive, and just maybe one more, and…"

Elsa chucked her sandal at Elena.

"Stop messing with her head. She has the Great Destiny to fulfil and you're trying to make her doubt we're even driving in the right direction. We need to focus."

"I'm just getting so _bored_ by this" Elena mock-whined. "I mean, driving the same stretch of the road whole day and looking at the bushes? I'm starting to recognise some of them. I could probably _name_ them by now. The Bush That Henry Peed Under, and The Bush We Stopped By To Eat The Sandwiches and The Bush-"

"MOM!"

Emma's head jerked up, looking for her son, who was standing straight, pointing towards the sky.

"MOM! Look at that huge black cloud! What is it?!"

"Crap" Elsa jumped up and started collecting her things, running over to Elena to grab her sandal.

"Henry, get back to the car, now!" Emma picked him up one-handed and pushed into the seat. "It's a storm. A big, nasty, ugly storm. We have to get under a roof, now."

Elena was already sitting in the backseat and she helped to strap Henry in as soon as she closed the doors. Emma ran around the car to the driver's seat and got caught by the first drops of heavy rain.

"Ssssh… sugar" Elsa said with feeling, looking at the suddenly-wet road in front of them and the quickly darkening forest around them.

Emma started the car and slowly headed back towards the motel they used the night before. With Henry pressed into the window, watching the light-and-sound spectacle outside with fascination, Elsa mumbling curses about something-or-other missing in her handbag and Elena sitting awkwardly with her yoga mat pressing into the side of her head, she hoped they'd make it to the motel before all places were taken and they'd have choice of driving another ten miles and sleeping sitting up.

* * *

"Stop the car!"

Emma pushed the brake pedal so hard she was almost standing on it.

"What the hell?" she managed to utter before Elena darted out of the car and into the undergrowth. She only had time to thank her good reflexes, assuming her sister got a sudden bout of motion sickness when Elena was back, holding a small child in her arms.

"I saw him between the bushes" Elena's voice was a bit breathy. "There is nobody here but him, we haven't seen a sign of a human being for the last twenty minutes, and there is noone in like ten miles from here, except for us."

"What do you mean?" Emma squinted at Elena's red face.

"I…" she stuttered. "I feel it. There is nobody here. I tried, you know, _fetching_ something that looks like a human, and the only ones I felt were you. And him" she hesitated. "And now my head hurts. I think I might have overdone this magic thing."

Elsa blinked a few times, looking at a tiny, dark-haired boy in Elena's arms.

"What is your name, dear?" she asked kindly.

The kid looked at her with teary eyes.

"Roland" he finally whispered, his lower lip trembling.

"Alright, Roland. Is there someone, some grown-up, with you, in the forest?"

Elena's gentle question seemed to send the boy into full-blown sobbing.

"Did you get lost? Did you run from someone?"

He kept shaking his head, making his soggy hat fall off.

"M'dad" he finally uttered. "M'dad is in the fores'. I was lookin' for'im."

Elena breathed slowly and shook her head slightly at her sisters.

"Roland, can you look at me, please?" she raised his head slightly to face her. "Did you go into the forest _with_ your dad, or did you go _looking_ for him?"

He blinked.

"I goed there 'lone" he sniffed. "Regina says m'dad is not in the fores' but I know he is."

"And who is Regina?"

"She says she's like me mum. Only I know me mum was someone else. And she died."

Elsa's eyebrows reached her hairline.

"Well, Roland, can you tell us where you live? We should probably take you there and you should get changed out of these wet clothes."

His head drooped a bit and he leaned away from Elena.

"OK" Emma finally started the car again and turned heating a bit up. "We'll drive to the next town and we'll see if anyone can help us find his parents or whoever is responsible for him. The sooner the better, unless we want someone to think we've kidnapped him."


	27. Little town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And they finally arrive.

They finally managed to get Roland to give them the address - or rather the directions - to Regina's house.

From his disjointed story, they worked out the situation - adoptive mother, his long-kept longing for a father who apparently disappeared in the woods, his attempts at finding the place where he used to live. All very familiar, well-known from the stories of other children in the group home.

As Elena spoke to Roland, wiping his wet hair and tucking the blanket around him, Emma slowly drove forward, looking carefully for any sign of civilisation. When they suddenly came upon a sign saying "Welcome to Storybrooke" she was not even _that_ surprised.

That magic thing about pushing them in the right direction was starting to be annoying.

* * *

The town was slightly anticlimactic. Just a standard somewhere-in-USA town - reasonably sized streets, unexceptional shops, some bigger buildings, a clock tower, a crossroads, a phone booth… very generic, very _normal_.

Even at the rather late hour they could see people walking, some cars on the streets, some shop windows illuminated. Smell of fried onions wafted in through the partially open window on Emma's side.

Emma sent a grateful thought to whoever may be listening for this being a XX century town, probably well-equipped with all modern facilities, like running water. She really hated field solutions to hygiene problems.

* * *

"Here we are" Emma parked the car in front of a huge stone mansion. "Come on, girls. Let's hand Roland back to his… Well. To Regina. Preferably before they start a kid hunt in the forest in darkness."

Elena managed to scoop slightly damp kid out of the backseat, where he tried to resist, for just a moment. Still, he seemed more resigned to his fate and to protest mostly for the sake of appearances.

Elsa pressed the buzzer button and they waited in the slight drizzle.

"Who is…!?" tall, handsome brunette woman opened the door abruptly, her voice dying as she took in the whole group. "ROLAND!"

"Um. Afternoon" Elsa smiled her best lawyer-y smile. "It seems we found something of yours."

"WHAT? Where… How… Why do you have Roland?"

The boy curled up in Elena's arms even more tightly.

"Regina?" a male voice asked from inside the house.

"Graham! Yes, there are some women who have Roland…" she trailed off. "Who are you?" her gaze focused on Elena, who was still holding the small boy.

Tall, curly-haired man with a wide smile strode into the hall behind her. His uniform and badge were rather obvious hints towards his role in the town.

"Ah, sheriff!" Elena's smile brightened. "Hello. Sorry, yes, we found Roland. In the woods, something like two miles outside the town."

Regina gasped and reached for the boy.

"Let me" the sheriff offered and picked him from Elena's arms. "Regina, I'll take care of the lad, you please talk to the ladies. I wonder how he managed to get so far… Come on, little guy, you gave us all a fright."

The brunette's eyes tracked him until he apparently reached the stairs, his steps echoing in the hallway.

"Mom?"

Henry stood on the steps behind them, holding something up.

"Roland left his hat and his bag in the car" he explained, pushing between his aunts. "Hello. I'm Henry Swan. I think these are Roland's?"

Regina took the offered objects almost automatically, looking at Henry in astonishment.

"Thank you, Henry Swan. And…" she raised her eyes at the grownups on her doorstep. "I'm so sorry. Didn't introduce myself. Regina Mills. Would you all please come in? I have just made tea, maybe you'd like some?"

* * *

They sat on the grand leather-covered sofa, all three in their casual travelling attire, Emma holding sleepy Henry in her lap, opposite of Regina, who even at her own home was dressed rather smartly.

Their host was arranging the tea set on the tray in front of her, and glancing at them from time to time. Finally she poured and handed them their cups.

"So… You just arrived in the area? I've never seen you around here. And it is a rather small town, so I know everyone. Probably."

"Yes" Emma lifted Henry to a more comfortable position against her shoulder. "We were driving through the forest when Elena spotted Roland between the bushes. Considering the fact that we didn't see any lights or homesteads around, we decided it would be best to take him with us and hand him to the authorities, if we couldn't find his family."

Regina nodded slowly.

"Thank you" her gaze stopped on Henry's slumbering form. "Roland is… Is a bit troubled. His family does not… Well."

"I understand he thinks his father lives in the woods" Elena smiled, leaning forward. "I'd assume this is some trauma from before adoption. He seems very determined."

"Actually, we have no idea what happened to his family" Regina sighed. "He was found wandering the woods one day by a teacher from local primary school. She brought him to the sheriff and we tried to identify whose he might be. We assumed he just got lost, but from what he said, we worked out…"

She stuttered a bit and Elena smiled compassionately.

"He said something about smoke" she provided. "I'm guessing some kind of forest fire? Maybe he was hiking with his family and they set their campfire up without securing it properly?"

Regina nodded, then shook her head.

"We didn't have a forest fire anywhere near where he was found. I'm afraid he must have been walking for miles before he was found, and so we have no hope of ever identifying where he came from. We sent his description to social services in the nearest city, but all they could give us was the offer of one of their social workers picking him up" she hugged herself unconsciously. "I couldn't… just give him to be lost in the system. At least if we kept him here, we had a chance of controlling what happened to him, and in case his parents were ever found, to check what was it that had happened. If we sent him to the main offices, he would have become just one more number on a long list… And they'd probably hand him over back to whoever was irresponsible enough to have lost him."

Elsa leaned towards their host and patted her hand.

"You did well" she said gently. "He's better off with you, whatever he thinks, than in a group home."

Regina blinked.

"We were in the system" Elsa weaved towards the other two. "Unadoptable, as triplets. It's way better for him to stay with you. He seems like a very delicate boy, he wouldn't have done well in an average group home. And some of the foster families are proper nightmares."

Regina's trembling half-smile surprised all of them.

"Thank you" she finally uttered. "I'm… I was never sure I did the right thing, I know nothing about raising children. But it seemed safer, and with me being the mayor of the town, I could move the papers to declare myself the foster family for Roland. I really hope someday his father is found, but it's been already a year…" she bit her lip.

Elsa's smile faltered as she watched Regina carefully and she touched Emma's hand, tapping her watch.

"Alright, we'll let you get back to him, then" Emma smiled over Henry's head. "We should be getting on our way. Is there a hotel somewhere in town? I don't want to even try to drive anymore and Henry deserves a proper bed for the night."

Regina rose with them, and walked them to the door.

"If you turn to the left on the next lights, three houses down is the B&B. Granny should still be up so you have a chance for a room if you hurry."

* * *

They walked down the paved path silently, Emma holding Henry's prone form and the other two thinking very intently.

As they opened the car door, Elsa finally inhaled deeply.

"I never actually believed August was right."

"You saw it?"

"Yep. A scar on her lip. Just like he said."

Elena helped buckle Henry in.

"Let's get some sleep and start this early tomorrow. We have to call August in the morning, to tell him we're here."


	28. Peace the evening brings

All three kept to mundane remarks until they were safely lodged in the largest suite of rooms the B&B sported and Henry was again asleep, teeth brushed and shower, for once, skipped.

"So…" Elsa's voice rose in a slightly questioning tone.

"That would be our step-grandmother" Elena provided flatly.

Emma sat heavily, mug of tea in front of her.

"What about the kid?" she asked, fingers worrying the table runner edge.

"Unknown" Elsa shrugged. "But August couldn't have known everyone in the whole kingdom. He doesn't even have to be from the court, if what she's saying is correct."

"Sure" Emma agreed. "But it complicates things."

"Why? It's not like we were planning to kill her… By the way, I think she's worried about something" Elena leaned back on the couch. "Did you see how panicked she was? And she was actually rather, may I say, _friendly_. For an Evil Queen."

Emma sipped her tea.

"I think it's because of Henry" she suggested finally. "It was, well, a _connection_. Some common base. She has a kid, we have a kid. She's a single mother, we're a female family with a kid and no guy. She's having problems with Roland, with him running away and looking for his father, and I'm sure she guesses we have problems with Henry, too."

The all nodded slowly, each picking up her mug.

"So, what do we do tomorrow?" Elena took out her notepad and pencil.

"We must identify our family. We have August's descriptions and we know they will be in some miserable situation."

Elsa pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Actually, the next step should be to find ourselves something to do in the town, establish ourselves" she said slowly. "Not that I don't want to look for your parents, but if we spend a day or two making a real effort and, well, giving everyone a proper, innocent reason for us being here, we can then work out things faster. If we have to make up a new reason each day for why we aren't leaving, it will take much more time in total."

Elena sipped her cocoa.

"However much I'd like to do something _now_ , Elsa does have a valid point. If we show we're here to stay, they will not question our search… We can cover this by, well, anything. Job hunt. Flat search. We could be looking for a tutor for Henry."

"Poor little Henry, ordered by the doctor to leave the big city…" Elsa mused. "We may work from that, start by visiting the hospital to check with them what would be the best section of the city to rent a flat, the school to register him as home-schooled but with option to join classes after the next term starts, all the shops to buy stuff before our things get shipped here…"

"And I can take Henry to visit Roland tomorrow" Emma rose to put her cup on the shelf. "I'll ask Regina if he can go with us to the playground. I saw one in the park. If she decides he can't go with us alone, even better. If she is the Evil Queen - and everything matches, even the scar on her lip - I need to find out what she knows, if I can. Or at least I can get some bonding time in over the kids before she knows what we are about. We should get on her good side, if she has any - and looking at Roland, I think she does, actually."

"I'll ask Ruby if she knows about any vacancies we could fill. Or maybe I could volunteer at school for after-class activities? We'll make a schedule of who is at home, who is "working" and who is socialising. I have to be online mostly during the working hours, but the two of you work when you want, so we can split it any way we need. This way there will always be one of us at home for Henry and the other two can be out there, looking for clues or being sociable or whatever."

"I'll go and visit the sheriff" Elsa offered. "As the local law enforcement, he may be a good point to start, and I may be able to get him to talk if I play the lawyer card well."

Emma nodded and pulled out her own notepad.

"I made a list of who we're looking for first. Of course we need to locate Geppetto, just to let August know he's OK. We need to find our parents. We already have the Queen. Who else?"

"The dwarves. Snow White was helped by seven dwarves."

"And there should be some court members, August said there were at least twenty people."

Emma flipped the right page open.

"Yes. There was the Blue Fairy, but I doubt we can identify her by her size now. There was someone called "Red", apparently standard human sized, so we have a chance - she wore a red cape, but I somehow doubt she'd be running around in one here and now. And there was Red's grandmother. No idea why she is so important that she got included into the Council, but we have her on the list. There were some other nobles whom August could not describe in enough details, which is just peachy, because we frigging need them."

"Useless" Elena looked up from her laptop. "The ones that August did describe are either useless, because they probably look like standard humans now, or too generic and too many people will match the description. But, actually, what you said makes me think we can find one of them immediately. And she may be very important, and useful. Red, the one you mentioned."

Emma sat closer to her.

"Red? Why Red?"

"She _was_ Snow's best friend. She was brought into the castle and whatnot, despite the fact that she lived in the forest all her life - so she was, basically, a peasant. And she always wore red. Not only the cape, actually, all red. And she was dark-haired. Now, who did we meet in the last hours who matches this description?"

Elsa's eyebrows went up.

"You're saying Ruby is your mother's BFF? Do you think the relationship might have survived despite the curse, so we can make use of it and track down the others?"

Emma shrugged.

"She's a waitress and a barmaid. Everyone talks to the waitresses, so it may be a challenge to work out who is our mother in the crowd - even if their relationship survived."

"And as you said, Red had a grandmother, a formidable lady who shoot the crossbow quite neatly" Elena continued reading from her database.

"Granny, even if without a crossbow. I could totally see her using one on some rowdier clients, mind you" Elsa fell silent and then frowned "So we have a red-dressed young woman and her grandmother. What do you think is the ending to _this_ story?"

"I'm wondering why August didn't see that link - at least he never mentioned it."

Emma shrugged.

"Maybe it's one of these way off from 'reality' - so our version doesn't really match the events from Enchanted Forest."

"Also, there is no big Disney movie for _that_ one. And once he was in the orphanage, he might have been too old for nursery stories, so he just simply missed it completely."

"I wonder if she has a basket."


	29. Since the morning that we came

The next morning they all looked rather bleary - except for Henry, obviously. Henry was as lively as possible, making all three of them wince from time to time, as they sat waiting for their coffees to cool down to drinkable temperature.

"Lovely little gentleman you have here" an elderly man in a worker's overalls said approvingly from the next booth, raising his cup of tea in greeting. "What is his name?"

Henry knelt on the seat and held his hand out.

"I'm Henry Swan. These are my mother and my aunts. And you are?"

The man put the cup carefully away and grasped the offered hand.

"My name is Marco, Henry. Very nice to meet you. Are you staying in Storybrooke, or just passing through?"

A thickset, bearded man from next booth made a rude noise.

"Who cares. One more brat in the town, one less, no difference. All they do is make noise and bother people."

"Leroy, manners. The ladies here are new in the town, you're giving Storybrooke bad image."

"I'd rather have them out of here, and taking the noisemaker with them. Man can't drink his coffee in peace."

Marco smiled sadly.

"I'd give anything to have one just like him. All my life, I… Well, he was not meant to be."

Emma and Elena exchanged quick glances and Elena pulled her notebook to check the descriptions surreptitiously. She nodded minutely.

Marco looked at his cup again.

"Well, young Henry. Be good to your mother and I hope I'll see you around the town."

Leroy only snorted, covering his face with the newspaper.

Granny slapped him with a rolled-up one, passing by.

"Get some manners or get out. And take your shoes off my cushions."

He got up grumbling, slurped the last of his coffee rather obnoxiously loudly and walked out, passing the booth where Henry and his family sat.

"I'm getting out, no worries. And you, sisters, will be better off if you get out of this town, and take the snotnose here with you."

Henry blinked and looked at the man as he exited the diner.

"He's really grumpy, isn't he?" he asked in a surprised, but clear voice, easily heard in all of the booths around them - and probably outside, too. A wave of snickers and giggles made Emma's face burn red and she pulled him down to sit properly on the bench.

Ruby sauntered up to their table, bearing plates of food and a mug of chocolate for Henry.

"You all look like you've had too much fun yesterday" she said, unloading the breakfast. "Which is all kinds of unfair, considering you were all down and snoring next to no time after checking in. If you feel like you've partied the day before, the least the life could do is offer some entertainment to go along the pain."

Emma smiled weakly and nodded.

"I feel as if someone had set up a hammering workshop in my brain. We will eat, take some painkillers and re-evaluate that novel idea of a hangover without a drinking, thank you" she rubbed her forehead. "It must be all the driving we did yesterday and then the storm which was on exactly as Elena found Roland. If this doesn't go away, is there a doctor in the town who could give us something stronger?"

Ruby smiled widely.

"We have even a whole _hospital_. And doctor Whale is dealing with so many different cases in this town, he should be able to find something even for a killer headache."

Elsa squinted and sighed, sipping her icy mocha.

"I hope so, because we need to pull ourselves together a bit" she said tiredly. "If we're going to be staying, we'll need a better living solution than B&B - however lovely it is, Granny, of course" she smiled at the older woman. "But we can't stay in one room for more than a few days."

"Don't worry, Elsie. I'm sure there are enough places around the town to fit all four of you" Ruby quickly adopted calling the sisters by their pet names. "There is some property you can rent - or buy, if you'd be staying longer - and if you need more than a flat, there are even some houses on the edge of the forest, just outside the town. Owners moved out and there were no buyers, so they still are on the market, who knows why."

The sisters exchanged glances, but Henry chose this moment to try to chase up his tomato sandwich with a big swallow of cocoa and started hiccoughing, making disgusting noises and giggling like a loon in between hiccups, so Emma escorted him out of the diner and let him breathe in peace.

* * *

The meeting with the school headmistress was a surprising event. The gregarious, smiling woman was not the type of personality Emma usually linked with that position and it took her a while to accept that all her senses were confirming the lady was for real.

"I see" Miss Blanchard tapped the school report from Boston and peeked at the doctor's opinion. "So, for the time being Henry would be homeschooled, and you'd want to enrol him at the beginning of the next term?"

"That would be the best, yes. We're not sure he gets better in Storybrooke, so I'd rather not make him start the school here if we have to move in two months. However if by the end of this term he seems to be improving, we'd like him to start lessons with other children in fall."

"And you just moved here, like this? Dug up all rots in Boston, left friends behind?"

"Well, we do have Henry's best interest as our priority, so yes. With no hesitation."

"I hope you and your husband can find something to do around here, but the town is rather small, so it may be a challenge."

Emma sighed.

"I don't have a husband. And I'm quite sure I can work something out, as long as Henry's happy here."

The woman behind the desk gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.

"So sorry! You said 'we' and I assumed…"

"Me and my sisters. We raise Henry together" Emma allowed herself to smile, economically.

"Sisters! How lucky! I always wanted to have a sister!" the headmistress had the most infectious smile, once she let it be seen and was not covering it with her hand. "How many do you have?"

Her eyes were shining with innocent excitement, so Emma finally smiled fully.

"Two. I mean, we're triplets, so three altogether."

"Triplets, wow…" she trailed off. "I remember someday dreaming about having a twin, just to make sure I have someone I'd be sure I will love…"

"Well, you're welcome to one of mine" Emma smirked. "It gets cramped in a small apartment and we've been stuck at Granny's for a _day_ and we're already getting on each other's nerves. Do you want a sister, maybe? I can sell you one. Only slightly used."

The headmistress snorted and started giggling uncontrollably.

"No, thank you, I'd rather have a new one, if I can get any. But I appreciate the offer! Now, as to the apartment, you need to contact Mr Gold, who manages most of the real estate here in the town. You tell him the requirements and he'll whip up the offer for you. There's even one place in my building - it's an old factory construction, so the measurements of the flats are rather untraditional. You can get something quite normal, or a weird two-levels combination like mine. I don't have a lot of space in the hall, but I do have an additional floor over the kitchen and there's an actual full room there" she shrugged "Never used it for anything but storage, but it is cosy. Anyway, the flat I mentioned also belongs to Mr Gold, so you can just ask him about it - I'm quite sure you'll love it. There is a bit of a park just nearby, a tiny playground, and a stream just a few steps from the building" she handed Emma the papers she filled in while talking. "Also, in case you needed help, I could assist you with homeschooling Henry. I have my own class of ten year olds, so I can probably find some stuff for a five year old to do."

* * *

"It does seem a bit creepy. Like she wanted us to live nearby to have control of us or…"

"Well, I only got an honest, truthful vibe from her, all the time. It is possible that she is, in fact, a happy and helpful person."

"Mary Margaret Blanchard" Elsa read the business card. "I'll google her and see what we can dig up about her. Just in case."

"Let's see if she's not listed as an axe murderer on some Wikipedia page. She's just too sweet to be alive."

* * *

"She doesn't exist" Elsa sighed, pushing herself away from the keyboard. "No digital footprint at all. No Facebook account, no google account, no twitter - one that I could identify at least - no Instagram. Actually, Storybrooke is more or less an invisible town, too."

"Probably, being a magical creature from another world, under a spell, she - like everyone else in town - is forced to avoid detection. Remember what August said, and what we've tested by ourselves - it's hard to get here if you don't know it's here, right? So if someone posted anything about the town on the 'net, people might start getting here by accident…"

"Protective part of the curse."

"Well, we have to work out who she is without the internet. I just hope she is someone from the court, not a crazy witch from neighbouring kingdom."

"One thing for sure, she is lonely. It looks as if she tried to make the connection to us by any means necessary. Seems desperate for company."

"Well, from what August said, all 'our' side was supposed to be perfectly miserable, and our mother should be worst off" Emma sighed and sipped her tea. "So it can't be her - and the description doesn't match. Black hair yes, long hair no."

"You do understand the general idea of cutting one's hair, I hope?" Elena looked at her pointedly. "The fact that she has short hair may only mean she trimmed it."

"But she's not miserable enough."

"That would depend on someone's definition of 'miserable', really" Elsa pointed out. "Everyone has a different set of reasons to be miserable."

"She has a good job, around a lot of kids - so if she's the family lady August said, she's ok - she has a nice flat in an area she does recommend to others. Doesn't seem that bad."

"But from what you're saying, she's lonely…" Elena mused.

"She seems really really lonely. Like she's missing human contact even though she's the headmistress. She couldn't stop talking when I was there, and it was what, about 20 minutes."

"Well, who would get friendly with their child's school head?" Elsa provided. "Remember the guy from the primary school whose parents were some family of the headmaster? He had no life. It's the same thing here, probably."

Emma nodded slowly.

"Her position isolates her from the people around her, so she is around people, but…"

"Yep."

"OK, so, plan. We befriend her?"

"I suppose we should. Better be friendly with our own mother. And if she's not" Elena shrugged "at least we get a friend out of it, whoever she is. And if she's an evil axe murdering witch, then at least we'll get on her good side before she gets her memories back."

"Basically, we want to get on _everyone's_ good side before we confirm who is who and/or they regain their memories."

"That means we have to be on our best behaviour" Elsa warned. "No hitting people with your bo staff."

"And no going full lawyer on them without reason. Someone may die of fright if you do this unexpectedly, and how would you explain to our mother the fact that her favourite maid is missing? Or why the kingdom has one smith less now?"

* * *

Emma couldn't sleep, despite being tired to the bone. She waited quietly until Henry was snoring, arms around his bear, and slipped out of her room, down to the lobby of B&B.

Granny was sitting in a deep, slightly shabby armchair, knitting something grey and fluffy, peeking at a tiny TV set over her needles.

"Do you need anything?" she asked, not pausing her knitting. "Is there anything missing in the room?"

Emma shrugged and smiled.

"Not really, no. Thank you. Just can't sleep, so I thought I'd stretch my legs and maybe make some tea, if I could?"

"Sure, sure. There's a kettle behind the counter and a tin with tea bags next to it. Mugs are on the bottom shelf. If you could make enough for two, that would be nice, too."

"And now you're using guests to make tea for you?" Ruby appeared from some room inside the ground floor. "Really?"

"Well, with you out all the time, how else is an old woman going to get her tea, missy?"

Ruby shrugged and wrapped her hair with a lacy red scarf.

"The same way you'd be getting it if I was in Boston, like I planned."

"Well, I'm so sorry my health issues stopped you from…"

Emma coughed suggestively and the two women fell silent, looking at her with embarrassment.

"Which one would it be, Granny? Earl Grey, or…?"

"There should be some plain black there, if you could. Thank you, Emma."

"Emma" a male voice said. "What a lovely name."

They all turned, Granny stuck in her deep chair, looking at the man in surprise.

"Ruby" Granny said with a slight nod towards the counter.

The younger woman darted behind the check-in desk and grabbed a roll of banknotes stashed there.

"It's all here" she said breathlessly, handing it to the man.

He smiled, thin lips stretching into a slight grin.

"Of course it is, dearie. How could it be otherwise. I see your grandmother is trusting you with more… important tasks nowadays. How could an old woman live without someone to help her…" he mused, pocketing the money.

Ruby withdrew her hand as if burnt.

"You enjoy your stay… Emma" he gave her a symbolic nod.

"We sure will" she managed to answer, slightly stuttering, as the man's whole figure radiated some kind of menace that made her 'spidey sense' go on full red alert. He wasn't _lying_ , as such, but his whole person felt somehow false.

"We?" he turned back towards her from the door he had just opened.

"Well, my sisters and me. We'll be staying here for a while."

He… blinked. Suddenly the feeling of slimy menace retreated, replaced with honest surprise.

"Your sisters?"

"Yes, my sisters" she smiled, drinking in his unease. "Elena and Elsa. They are upstairs, I just couldn't sleep, so…"

He shuddered slightly, as if shaking off something on his shoulder.

"Really. Two sisters. How nice for you…" he seemed somewhat lost in the conversation.

"Oh yes" she smiled widely. "There's nothing better than family."

His face went rigid and he turned without a word, shutting the door behind him with a thud.

Ruby and Granny jumped slightly at the sound. Emma finally switched the kettle on and the hissing made them look in her direction.

"Who was that?" she asked, dropping the bags into prepared mugs.

"Mr Gold" Ruby provided, walking to the nearest window and peeking though it towards the street. "He owns this place."

"This one? The inn?"

Granny grimaced.

"More like the town."

She made a few more angry stitches on her needles and dropped them in a large workbasket sitting next to her chair.

"So… how is that tea coming on? I probably need something to pick me up now."

"And then you will be complaining you're to keyed up to sleep" Ruby snorted and fixed her shawl again.

"It's better than being too drunk to walk straight" the older woman commented under her nose, as her granddaughter opened the door.

"I heard that!"

"You were supposed to!"

Silence fell as Emma handed Granny her mug and they both waited for the tea to steep a bit.

"She's been like this since her parents went missing" Granny finally blurted out. "I'm worried for her, but I can't really stop her from going out. At least it means she's in the town, and not on some crazy road trip out to Canada or somewhere. If she parties in town, either she gets back by herself, or that cute sheriff brings her back. If I press too much, she may just as well try to go to Boston or somewhere else, like she said, and I'd probably never see her again."

Emma pursed her lips.

_I wonder if it's even possible for them to leave the town. Roland did, but he never got anywhere close to other people, so he didn't actually leave, so it may not count…_

"We've seen a lot of kids reacting to losing their parents in a destructive way. I suppose it's no different for grownups."

Granny sighed.

"She was fifteen when it happened. It's been eating at her ever since."

"At least she has you" Emma said and sipped her tea.

"Yes, that she does. I suppose you three didn't have that much, right?"

Emma nodded and smiled thinly.

They sat in silence for a moment.

"What are you watching?"

Granny smiled with some embarrassment and turned the sound up a bit.

"A crime show. Midsomer Murders. It's nice to listen to that accent, you know. And it isn't fast, like all the CSIs, with the car chases and computer hacking. Easier to follow for an old woman."

Emma moved a chair to see the screen better.

"Would you mind me watching it for a bit with you?"

Granny stared at her over the rim of her glasses.

"Not at all, dear. Not at all."


	30. I wanna be where the people are

"Isn't it nice?"

A tall man with a dog was standing in front of the diner's door, so Elsa had to ask him to move, as she carried a basket with takeout lunch for Elena and Henry. It was him who spoke - a little dreamily, looking up at the clocktower.

"What is?" she asked out of courtesy, getting a better grip on the handle.

"The clock. Apparently Marco finally managed to fix it. It's working, first time in years, you see."

"Well" she shrugged. "He'd better set it to the correct hour, when he's at it. It's half past one, and the clock still showing quarter to nine."

He smiled and patted the dog.

"At least it's progress. A week ago… or maybe it was two weeks… he said nothing could be done as the great spring was stuck in such a way that he was scared to move it."

She walked to the street, shaking her head.

"It's progress, but I wouldn't set my watch by that thing."

He pushed up his glasses and hurried down the path after her.

"I'm guessing you must be E…" he suddenly stuttered.

"Elsa. Elsa Swan" she said helpfully. "No worries, I guess we are kind of a novelty in the town. And you'd be?"

"Ah! Archie. Archie Hopper. I'm the local psychologist. Well, psychiatrist, really, but I advise at school and at the hospital in my less medical hat. I actually wanted to talk to you - one of you - about Henry. You are his…?"

"Aunt. So whatever you need to discuss, should probably be with Emma, his mother."

He grimaced.

"Well, of course. However, if you could give me a few minutes of your time… You're not signing Henry into the school, I understood - could you tell me why? I'm wondering if I should be prepared for something specific once he starts attending."

Elsa put the basket on a small stump next to the fence.

"Henry is being homeschooled, because we don't know how long we'll be staying and we don't want to make him adjust to class life for a month just to take him out of it again. If he continues to improve - his health had been poor - we'll enrol him in the fall. Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

He shook himself just a bit, looking at her in surprise.

"That's… I see. No, no, thank you, that is probably all I needed. Yes."

"I'm quite sure Henry will not require your help once he is in school. He is a very stable and very bright boy, and he's being brought up with all the care he may need."

"I understand that the three of you love the child very much, but you can't be that sure about your own methods… after all, if I understood correctly, you've not been raised in an actual family."

Elsa picked up her basket and straightened up, her spine stiff.

"Where we were brought up and who took care of us has no influence on the methods we're using with Henry. I assure you, we know what we're doing. I understand you're professionally trained in the area of psychology, but do not assume you're not the only one with education on the subject."

* * *

_"What do you mean, study?"_

_"I mean, take a course. Come on. I know it sounds weird, but I want to prepare for this properly."_

_"And you think there is a course on how to be a proper parent? Specially for people, well, like us? Missocialised outcasts raised in the system?"_

_"It actually exists and it's for everyone. There's a lot of people out there who don't know how to be a parent - they came from a situation where they had no chance to learn anything about kids, or even about running a household."_

_"We at least had good home education lessons - they were rather useful and reasonable, even if not with actual real parents."_

_"There is even a separate course line for people from public care who had not been correctly prepared before being kicked out of the group homes. Including renting a place, signing contracts, getting insured, dealing with health system, making sure you know what are your rights at the hospital or at a clinic…" Emma sighed and moved to a better position. "I'm going for the parenting one. Five hours a week and it leaves me a free Thursday afternoon for the birthing classes. I'm not saying you have to come, but it may be easier for us if we all join. Funny thing is, if you take the advanced course, it actually gives us a paper that allows you to work as a kindergarten assistant. Not as an actual teacher, but hey, it's still a skill we could use at some point."_

_Elena nodded and swallowed her sandwich._

_"I'll do it, why not. I want to be properly prepared for when the kid comes. We have our house set up, we know how to manage the finances and we know how to live day to day, but I'd rather have someone give us a good set of notes regarding the visit to the hospital so that we don't end up in debt due to the fact that you're having a baby."_

_"Or end up having problems being admitted as your family, if someone decides to make fuss about lack of a man."_

_Emma snorted._

_"As if they never had sisters accompanying each other. But yes, it's better to be prepared."_

* * *

Doctor Hopper was making his way back home, glancing towards Elsa from time to time uneasily. She, on the other hand, calmly walked down the few buildings and joined Henry and Elena on the porch of the inn, where Elena was trying to work and Henry was trying to interrupt her.

"Small town" Elsa snorted, setting the basket on the kitchen table. "Everyone is poking their noses into everyone else's business."

"Who accosted you?" Elena reached for the container with homemade lasagna, still hot from Granny's oven.

"Doctor Hopper, or something like his. Local shrink. Tried to suggest Henry will need counselling due to living with incompetent victims of social system upbringing. Really, people."

Henry sat next to Elena, bringing his plate.

"Who said that?" he asked, frowning.

"A doctor from the town, darling."

"And what does coun-cell-ing mean?"

Sisters exchanged glances.

"That he thinks you will need help when you go to school in the fall."

Henry's frown deepened.

"Why would I need help? I was doing OK in my previous school…" he seemed a bit worried, but soothed the feeling with a healthy bite of the lasagna.

"He thinks that because we lived in an orphanage, we don't know how to raise a kid and so we probably broke you" Elena hugged him. "Don't worry. He doesn't know us yet, so he's probably a bit suspicious."

"That's silly" Henry chewed for a moment in silence. "Why would it make any difference where you came from?"

"It makes no difference, Henry" Elsa patted his shoulder. "Some people just can't understand it, that's all."

* * *

Regina came with Emma to the playground, actually. Early spring afternoon was sunny and warm enough for both Roland and Henry to get out of their light jackets and run around the area, shrieking with happiness. Henry thoughtfully let himself be caught a few times, following Emma's delicate suggestion before they met.

"How old is Henry?" Regina asked absently, tracking the movements of the smaller boy.

"He'll be six in the fall" Emma watched Henry more discreetly, trying to let him, for the time being, play without over parental oversight. "I hope we can stay here that long. He could go to school and start with everyone."

"Why shouldn't you? Storybrooke is a nice town. I hope" Regina grinned. "If there is anything here that could displease you, I'd very much like to hear about it."

Emma shook her head, smiling.

"It's mostly about Henry, actually. He became so sick in Boston we had to take him out of school in early spring. The pollution in our area was very bad and the doctor suggested we take him as far from the big city as we could manage. So, when one of our friends suggested Maine as a place with some woodland, we decided to give it a try. Our jobs give us a lot of flexibility, and my sisters are rather devoted to Henry, so we decided to, well. Just find the place that felt right."

"And then there was a storm, and you found Roland."

Emma nodded.

"And it seemed a good idea to check where the fate has brought us. So, we're here, and we'll see what happens. Kind of a demo version of actual living here."

Regina watched Roland attentively for a moment, as he braved the short kiddie climbing wall, and relaxed only when he was back on the ground.

"I hope you can stay" she said, not looking at Emma. "It is nice here, but a bit boring, so you'll be a breath of fresh air for the people here. Henry will certainly be a welcome addition to our school, and if he has any kind of big city stories, he'll be an instant micro-celebrity. Nobody here travels much, so kids mostly see big world in TV."

Emma made an understanding face and a non-committal grunt.

Henry managed to sneak behind Roland and tickle him, making the younger boy howl with laughter and kick up a huge amount of sand. Regina started to get up, but suddenly glanced at Emma and sat back down.

"I suppose I may be a bit too cautious" she said suddenly. "But that's because I care. I care about him. I just can't… I try to make sure he has everything he needs - including some structure - but also… sometimes I may be too careful, but I think it doesn't make me a toxic mother. I hope so, at least. I try to stop myself from hovering. But sometimes I still think he feels smothered by all the attention."

Emma blinked.

"It makes you a nervous mother, that's for sure. Have you tried letting him out of your sight from time to time? You know, controlled situation, and you go and have an hour to yourself?"

Regina snorted.

"Sure. And it works out so well. Two days ago? I though he was napping after a whole day of running around the house. So I went downstairs, put on my headphones and listened to some music. He must have sneaked out then. It's not only that I'm watching him for what every kid does - I suppose you've had your dose of this with Henry - but also stop him from going into the woods. He's obsessed with finding his father, and unless I manage to convince him to stop, he will get hurt one day."

"But you can't just tell the kid that his father is dead, can you?"

Regina nodded slowly.

"I considered it, actually" she said slowly. "But I can't. He worships his father. His father is the best. He lives in the forest, he knows how to build a house, how to make a bow, how to fletch arrows, how to shoot the bow, how to make a campfire, how to…"

"Basically, he's a superman of the forest, so he can't be dead because that would be against the laws of nature themselves" Emma pursed her lips. "Also, if you convince him that his father is dead, and then the father is found, it will completely mess the kid up."

"I haven't even thought that far ahead" Regina admitted. "I'm worried every day that someone will come and take him and place him in some ugly orphanage and he will have nobody to make sure he doesn't drown in some pond in the forest. Mostly, I want us all to survive until the fall semester, he will be going to school then. And I will maybe manage to get some work done without having to fetch Graham and a babysitter to make sure Roland doesn't go exploring the moment I close the door."

"At least now he looks like he's having fun" Emma pointed to both boys looking closely at something - quite certainly disgusting - they dug up from the sand.

Regina nodded slowly.

"Maybe because Henry doesn't have a father, either" she said with a sigh. "He mostly gets this need for searching when he sees other children with their fathers, I think."

"Well, glad to be of service, madam Mayor. Maybe when he is around us a bit more, he'll get used to the idea of non-standard families."

"You four are definitely not standard, by any definition" Regina smiled cautiously. "May I ask…"

Emma rolled her eyes.

"I was an idiot, he was a conman, he split before I ever knew I was pregnant. And he tried to frame me for theft."

"Ouch."

"I got over it, don't worry. In hindsight, I could have done without the court case during the first vacation after getting our master's degrees, but I'm certain I wouldn't change the fact that I was pregnant during it. It was a bother and I managed to throw up way more than I ate, but I got Henry and I don't have to share him with that lowlife."

"Just with your sisters."

"Well, they are his parents, too" Emma shrugged. "And way better ones than he would ever be. Myths of male role model are just myths. Better no father than a lousy one."

* * *

The afternoon paper ran an article, very general in the way it was worded, about the dangers of strangers coming into closed societies and what kind of imbalances such can cause. It also alluded to said strangers' murky past, unknown upbringing, possible involvement in high-profile court cases and child endangerment. Emma additionally found a weird echo of what she told Regina, as there was a small paragraph regarding children reared in partial families.

She snorted, drank the rest of her coffee and hopped off the stool.

"Ah, Miss Swan" the headmistress smiled from her booth "Or may I call you Emma? I'm just about finished and I thought we could walk together. I could show you the town - as much as there is of it - and I can give you some materials for Henry to work on for the rest of the school year, so that he isn't behind when he joins in September."

"Sure. And yes, you can call me Emma" she smiled as the dark haired woman drank the rest of her coffee and gathered the abundance of paper she had spread on the table. "Writing assignments?"

Mary Margaret stuffed them into her bag.

"Actually, yes, but rather my own. I'm trying to…" she blushed "to write a novel. Not that I'm any good at writing interesting action scenes, but I hope I can get the social part of the text interesting enough. Now, let's go left and I'll tell you where everything is…"

* * *

As Emma noted where a laundromat was, where the car mechanic resided and which bakery saved better pastries (which was not the one with the best bread, and still not the same that sold better apple pies), she allowed herself to be led through the park, into more residential area.

"This one is all empty" her guide said. "They are supposed to tear it down, it has some structural problems, so it's dangerous even to go there. This one is a lot of tiny flats, mostly single people live here - ones with not much need to store stuff. And this is the one that was remade from some weird factory and nobody knew exactly how to divide them correctly, to allow everyone access to facilities and windows, so some flats are really complicated. Mine is just up here, on second and third floor. I'd invite you in, but I made a complete mess of my kitchen today - I was trying to mix some pancake batter and my mixer went crazy. I'm kind of avoiding going back there, because it would force me to face my kitchen" she made a disgusted face. "Let's go see the park here, what do you say? I'll show you the area. I'd really love to have someone friendly live here…" she trailed off and stared into the sky over the trees. "Almost nobody moved in for the last year or so, and there's just one flat taken in the building, except for mine, so I feel a bit lonely, sometimes. I'm sorry" she smiled weakly. "I don't want you to feel pressured, but I kind of jumped at the occasion to get someone to rent that huge flat next to mine, so I can hear that there actual living people around me."

Emma could only smile weakly at her earnestness.

"I have to check what my sisters decide. But I have to admit, it does sound nice. If that Mr Gold…" she blinked. "That was him, yesterday, I just connected it."

Mary Margaret frowned.

"Where? You met Gold already? That was quick."

"He was… I suppose he was collecting rent. Yesterday, at the B&B. He seemed a little weird, I must say."

Mary Margaret just shrugged.

"We all have our little quirks. Maybe he has more than others, but nobody is free of their own, personal weirdness. I can't abide being alone - that's why I mostly work in the diner, just to see people around me. Ruby detests colours other than black and red. Archie talks to his dog and just to himself, out in the open - and he is the shrink of the town. Nobody here is exactly normal."

Emma coughed.

"Well, maybe you three. But you're triplets, which makes you automatically 'non-standard', according to general public. You don't even need to show you're different, you just are."

"Regina?"

Mary Margaret stiffened.

"Madam Mayor is in a category of her own" she said carefully. "She is a single working mom in a power position. You can guess what the streets were saying when she adopted that little boy. She didn't get any less strict, for all their gossipping and muttering, and I've never seen her go any easier on herself. I may not be a fan of hers, but I have to admit she takes good care of Roland…" she straightened her shoulders. "There are some parents I won't mention who could benefit from following her example. I see enough neglect at school to make my heart hurt."

Emma raised her hand hesitantly, but decided not to pat Mary Margaret's shoulder after all. She had no idea how the woman would react to sudden physical contact.

"Well, let's walk a minute more and you'll see the greener part of our tiny corner. Here is the playground - much cleaner than the one in the city centre - and there is a bit of a park, including one big lane for biking and skating - and here's the fountain, and the benches. The angel on the fountain is supposed to be by some very fameous sculptor, who came to Storybrooke looong ago and decided to make our town a but weirder by sending one of his works for us to adorn our "sweet little town". I think it's a bit gloomy for a fountain just next to the playground, but…" she shrugged. "Kids ask sometimes why she's crying."

* * *

Henry was fast asleep as the three grownups gathered quietly in the corner of the room.

"The townies are suspicious of us" Elsa provided in a whisper, her copy of the newspaper flat on the table in front of them.

"And rightly so, we're probably the first new thing they've seen since this place was created. From what Regina said, we're the news of this decade" Emma shrugged. "I think it's like an immune system. They've never seen anything like us, so they are reacting with slight aggression. May even be the effect of the curse itself."

Elsa bit her lip.

"I'm a bit worried about something else, actually" she said slowly. "Have you noticed the difference between Henry and the local kids?"

Emma frowned, glancing towards her son.

"What do you mean? I only saw him playing with Roland, and there's a two years difference between them, so obviously…"

"He is…" Elsa pursed her lips. "He seems older than kids his age. And if you think about it, it was always like this, even in Boston. But there were other bright kids there at the school, and here the population is smaller, so he stands out more. He's almost six, but he talks like a kid three years older. When I was at the park with him, in the evening, I saw other six-year-olds. They are way less outspoken and have much more limited vocabulary."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"Do you think it may be the same thing that let him see August's leg?"

"You mean he has some special magic that lets him see stuff in a different way from others?"

Emma pondered it quietly.

"I think… I know when someone is lying - I hear the thing they say and I have a feeling whether they are lying or not. Sometimes I can feel the general falsehood about someone - even before they say something specific. What Henry does is seeing true things. We never saw the wooden leg, but I know August isn't lying about it, due to my magic. It's just probably hidden by some illusion, like Storybrooke itself. And Henry is the only person who sees the actual thing. He may actually be seeing stuff we never guessed is there and he treats it like something natural, because we've never told him otherwise."

"And how does this change the fact that he behaves like a little grownup?"

"He is very grown up in his understanding of the world" Elena sighed. "I think he's less childlike, due to being treated like a partner by all of us and if at the same time his brain is wired to see the reality in more real way, it makes him talk like a kid half again his age."

"So, in fact, we might have messed him up a bit?" Emma rubbed her face with both hands.

"But in a good way, Emmy. He's more responsible and communicates with us way better than kids at six do 'normally'. He comes to us with every question and they are good, sensible questions. When he comments on something, it may be naive, but it's not stupid. Like today, he said that what the shrink said was 'silly' - well, I thought the shrink was an idiot to tell me that we're unfit to be parents, but I'd never say this in Henry's presence. He made a correct assessment of the situation and summed it up in a way that made sense for him - fortunately we didn't teach him any stronger vocabulary."

Emma snorted.

"I hope the good doctor tries this again with Henry present. He'll be in for a surprise from his supposed patient."

"I'd rather he didn't, actually. No need to make Henry look like a shrink client in front of his future schoolmates" Elena sipped her tea. "He'll have enough challenges, if we actually stay here. Especially if we do break the curse."

Elsa started giggling uncontrollably.

"Do you know what Henry is? I just suddenly understood…!"

They both looked at her suspiciously.

"Well, if Emma is the heir to the throne, or however it is called, then Henry, as her son, is second in line!"

"Wow" Emma grinned. "Imagine Neal's face if he ever learnt about this."

Elsa shivered.

"I hope he never does. Sorry to say, Emmy, but he was a useless loser, and he tried to frame you for the watch job - so if he ever knew that you're an actual princess, he'd never leave you and never stop trying to empty your pockets."

Emma shrugged.

"We're not yet sure I actually am a princess, so let's keep any kind of conjectures to ourselves until we have confirmation. But I'd much rather never see Neal again, if I may have a choice. Explaining to Henry that Neal is untrustworthy will be a tough task. He may accept it in principle, but Neal has this thing that makes people trust him, even in completely stupid circumstances, so Henry may be unable to resist him, if we ever meet him again."

Elena caught her hand.

"I hope that before you ever have to, we'll be able to surround Henry with enough other members of family to compensate for Neal's so-called charm."

"And his overall uselessness."

Emma rolled her eyes.

* * *

A graying man in a dapper suit moved carefully around his shop, sorting the trinkets on his counter. His uneven gait made him look slightly unbalanced, but he managed quite well, at least until the moment he leaned his cane against one of the cabinets and managed to accidentally push it to the ground a moment later. By reflex he made two longer steps to catch it and only when he was holding it, he stumbled in surprise.

He sat heavily on the floor, hugging the cane and looking at his lame leg in astonishment.

"Well, that's new" he finally said into the silence of his shop.

Some hanging glass decoration clinked quietly in response.


	31. Upside down

Friday evening at Granny's was not a very lively time, as most youngsters used other venues for their dating - at least, that was what Emma had learnt from Ruby. Still, some grownups were attempting to kindle a romance in the rather prosaic atmosphere filled with fried cheese and onion ring aroma.

Doctor Whale looked fishy and Emma tried to suppress a giggle that seized her at that thought. He also looked way more interested in Ruby's decolletage than in Mary Margaret, with whom he was supposed to be on a date.

Emma cringed slightly at Mary Margaret's disappointed face and hid behind the newspaper to avoid embarrassing her new almost-friend even more by being a witness to the rather humiliating simulation of a date. However as Mary Margaret strolled by her, her face still and pale, she rose and quickly followed her outside.

"Didn't go very well?" she asked quietly, stopping behind the sad figure, standing dejectedly on the sidewalk.

Mary Margaret shrugged.

"I'm apparently not a very interesting person" she sighed. "And my blouses are cut in a much more conservative way than Ruby's. If she wasn't my best friend, I could honestly hate her for the effect she has on the guys."

Emma grimaced.

"If a guy goes on a date with you but stares at Ruby's boobs, he is a moron, and a… well, not a gentleman. He could at least refrain, you know, for the duration of the date."

Mary Margaret shrugged with a hopeless face.

"Can't help the fact that of all women in the town I'm the least likely to find someone" she said. "School is all-women, well, Archie is our only male staffer. And I don't really have time for much else. I volunteer at the hospital and it takes most of my off-school time. Also, I wear sensible skirts, sensible tops and terribly sensible jackets and coats. I'm completely uninteresting" she sniffed and smiled weakly.

Emma searched for a helpful remark, but nothing was coming.

"I suppose I'm destined to be a 'Miss Blanchard' for the rest of my life" Mary Margaret uttered with another sigh. "It's not like I think that only a woman with a man by her side is a valid model for family life, but I'd like to have someone… someone who would always come for me. Someone constant."

"You could adopt a child. Or foster, at least" Emma suggested hesitantly. "There are kids in the system who had been waiting for someone for ages. Single ones, too, it's not only complicated cases like us. Some are just unlucky and can't find the right home to go to."

Mary Margaret shrugged.

"That may be a solution, someday. I'd have to think about it, check the rules" she combed through her fringe with trembling fingers. "Probably being single may pose a problem here."

"It may, they generally look for married pairs" Emma nodded. "But if they decide that you are able to provide proper care… There may be some agencies willing to take the case. Single parent beats group home, I'm sure. Also, you are a teacher, so you have a good base for dealing with kids' issues."

"Hmm. I'll see. I would have to give up the hospital hours. I really like to think that I'm doing something useful there…" she sighed and then blushed. "Gosh, I won't be able to go there tomorrow, not after this disastrous date."

Emma nodded slowly.

"Speaking of volunteering…" she began. "Could I ask for your advice?"

They sat in Mary Margaret's kitchen, surrounded by wooden kitchen implements and tiny rustic-ish decorations, holding a mug of cocoa each.

"I know it's May, but I feel a bit drained after that date" Mary Margaret sounded somewhat guilty. "I make myself a mug from time to time, when my dating hits a particular low. I think today's outcome deserves one, with whipped cream and cinnamon."

Emma licked a bit of cream from the side of her mug.

"You could add tiny marshmallows. And some sprinkles, if you want to go full 'Disney princess'."

"And then die of instant diabetes, no, thank you. Whipped cream is quite enough by itself. But I'll keep this in mind in case one of my future dates actually proposes Ruby when I'm still there."

For a moment they sat in silence, sipping their beverages.

"So, what did you need advice on?"

Emma sighed.

"We need to find something to do in town" she finally blurted out. "We do our work remotely, all three, so we don't really need _jobs_ \- we are comfortable enough. But we'd like to participate. Something that would let us integrate with the rest of the town. Hospital volunteering sounds like something Elena could do. Elsa is bored enough to offer low-cost lawyer advice to people who don't have funds to hire a lawyer for standard fees. I'm not sure what _I_ can do because I can't really count on someone needing computer help in a constant way…"

Mary Margaret pondered the question for a moment.

"I'll see what I can find. I'm sure there will be something - if nothing else, the school can always use one more person for afternoon activities, even if just to monitor the soccer games or something like this. And you could bring Henry with you, so he could get to know the kids and the school grounds."

"Sounds nice. And knowing other kids will definitely make it easier for him to start the next semester - if we stay."

"You know where he is?" Elsa exploded the moment Emma walked in.

"What? Who? Henry?"

"Henry is with Elena, in the park. She promised him a visit to the singing fountain, and it's supposed to have pretty lights after dark, so they are staying until he drops. I meant _August_. You know what he did?"

Emma pondered this for a moment.

"Got so scared of what we may find he shut down his phone and hid somewhere?"

"No. But close."

"Got married?"

"NO."

"Ok, so no idea."

"He's in bloody China. He actually got so anxious he boarded the first plane to Asia he could find. He _says_ he's looking for some magical doodad that could supposedly help him with his leg, but I'm reading between the lines. That's also why we couldn't reach him - reception there is crap. So, I told him we've identified his father, and by the sound of it, he almost fainted. He said he'll be flying back any day now, he just had to finalise some businesses with the local magical-ish community. He also says he has a present for Henry."

"Dear me. I wonder what that would be…"

"Probably a mummified lizard or some other creepy pseudomagical thing. Anyway, he says he'll try to join us as soon as he's ready."

"Which means probably next year" Emma sighed. "I'll call him tomorrow and try to bully him into coming the day he lands. At least he won't be able to lie to me if he decides to avoid us."

"There's that" Elsa rubbed her eyes. "Also, he says that finding Red and Granny is a good start and that whenever he comes, he'd try to help us - as much as he can remember everyone."

"Maybe he'll be able to tell us which one is our mother" Emma brightened up hopefully. "That would help."

"Or not, if you go all psycho on her and try to make her wake up before you break the curse."

Emma rolled her eyes.

"Seriously. Me, going psycho on my supposed mother."

"I would" Elsa shrugged. "If someone pointed a woman out to me, anywhere in this town, and said 'Elsa, that's your mother, and she's been in this suspended life for the last three decades', I'd probably set up a camp on her lawn."

Emma snorted.

"Ok, maybe I'd go a bit psycho, too. But I hope by the time he comes we'll have at least partial map of connections between people, so we may actually work it out by ourselves."

"You high on something? How are we supposed to work this out, if we even don't have an idea who is supposed to _be_ here. It's not like a jigsaw puzzle, we don't have the edges to start from! Also, _they_ don't know who they are, so the connections will not be the same as in their old world."

"We know that Snow White and her husband must be here. We have Ruby and Granny and Marco _and_ Ruby and Granny are stuck together. That _is_ a start. And we have Regina and mind my words, there's something wrong with _her_."

"She seems nice…" Elsa looked at Emma quizzically.

"And she is not _supposed_ to. She is supposed to be that nasty, vengeful woman. Someone who tried to kill our mother, not someone who takes in random orphans from the woods and worries if she isn't hovering too much."

"If you say so… I think I prefer her as a nice person than her trying, I don't know, to run us out of the town."

They sat in silence for a moment.

"I'm kind of thinking something is wrong with more than just _her_. I thought people were supposed to be miserable here, and they look happier than average found in any city we've seen. And there are only a few persons that I get the false vibe from, including mister Gold, so nobody is just _acting_ happy, they _are_ actually happy."

"I'm not sure wishing people to be more miserable is the right attitude for a Saviour."

"Eat ice."

"Volunteering, at a hospital?" Elena frowned. "Why?"

"Because it's a good way to join the local community and it's needed. You can take Henry - Mary Margaret says kids from school help her decorate the hospital, bring flowers to the patients, sit with them and talk. This way the patients without families don't feel like nobody is thinking about them, so they actually get better quicker."

Elena nodded reluctantly.

Elsa added hot water into the teapot and poured a glass of milk for herself.

"You could also look for some first aid courses" she suggested. "With your powers, you could probably help people with broken bones, but it would be better if you knew what you're doing."

"Yeah" Elena brightened. "I was a bit worried about trying to fix anything on a living human - or animal - but if they have some kind of training for general public, that would be a lot of help" she sighed. "In our copious free time, between actual work, investigating our supposed family, Henry and trying to have a bit of maybe personal life."

"Multitask" Elsa shrugged. "We investigate anyway all the time, so volunteering in the hospital is a good way to find new connections. Also, you can observe doctor Whale in his natural environment. Emma feels protective about Mary Margaret and he seems to be a dick to women he's trying to date, so I'd feel better if we knew what kind of a guy he is on daily basis. And, Mary Margaret feels awkward now after that failed date, so you could help her in the hospital and give her some kind of cover…"

Emma poured herself and Elena a cup.

"She's nice" Elena said finally. "I don't mind looking out for her if Whale makes her uncomfortable. Especially if she is some kind of family, we should take care of her. The less bad memories everyone has of this place, the better."

"We don't really know _who_ she is" Emma reminded them. "She can be a servant or even someone from another kingdom."

"It's still good to make friends, the more the better. And she's nice, so it won't be like I'm just trying to be kind to her because we want to trick her into liking us in case she's someone important. We can be just kind because we like her, you know."

"I just don't want us to focus on her too much. Yes, let's make friends, but not only with her. Have you seen how many people are there in this town? Our family may be anywhere. We only know Regina for sure, and she's the one we're supposed to be _avoiding_."

The rooms were decorated with an abundance of paper flowers, paper flags, "GET WELL" cards and other, obviously child-made objects in bright colours. As Elena guided Henry to the table where a group of smaller children carefully turned strips of glossy paper into flowers, Mary Margaret followed them with a box of string, scissors and triangles of cloth, all prepared to produce meters of bunting.

"Now, Henry, you can sit here, with Julie, and she will show you how to put together a flower" Mary Margaret helped him to a seat. "And I will show your Aunt Elena where everything is and get her the hospital access tag so she can come back later by herself."

Henry only nodded absentmindedly as his eyes were completely focused on the complicated arrangement of paper strips Julie was putting together.

"If anything tries to eat you, scream" Elena added with a grin.

"Nothing will eat me" he answered with a sigh. "If it tries, it will spit me out anyway. No worries."

As they were walking away, Julie looked up from her work and stared at Elena's back.

"She your aunt?"

Henry nodded mutely.

"Sounds weird."

"She's just making fun of me."

Julie glued another strip in place.

"Did it ever happen?"

"What?"

"Did anything ever try to eat you? I mean, in Boston?"

"Nah. The only thing big enough was the alligator in the ZOO, and it was in a cage."

"You've seen an actual alligator?" a boy across the table from Julie looked at Henry with sudden interest. "How big is it?"

Henry made an uncertain gesture with his hands.

"The one I saw was, like, eleven feet long, I think. Aunt Elsa said that it was exactly two times longer than my mum is tall, and mum is five feet five."

"Wow. And have you seen an elephant?"

"Sure. And a hippo. And a rhino."

"Wow" Julie sighed and stopped gluing the flower together. "What about zebras? I'd like to see a zebra someday."

"It's just like a small horse, but striped" Henry shrugged. "There is a bunch of zebras in the ZOO close to where we used to live."

Several children migrated quietly from neighbouring tables.

"Have you ever seen a gorilla?" one finally asked.

"He seems to be making friends" Mary Margaret whispered, as they watched Henry from the cover of the flower arrangement by the door.

"That's good" Elena answered. "He needs more contact with kids. The amount of time he's spending with us is not doing him any good. He's turning into a little grownup. Emma wants him to have a chance to actually be a kid."

"Very well. Let's leave them alone for a moment and I'll get you to the office where the badges are issued."

"The idea is to give everyone who stays in the hospital a bit of human contact. Especially the child wing, where kids stay for longer periods, is a problem, as not all parents are as attentive as they should be, and some even leave their children alone for days at a time. We try to engage the classmates to make sure patients stay up to date with their schoolwork, or at least have some social contact. For senior patients, it's usually enough if someone talks to them, or plays a game of checkers - and some of the kids are as bad at checkers as the oldtimers, so it's a fair game for both sides. And finally, some of the older ones have stories to tell, and their own children often are quite bored of these, so the kids make for a good audience. And, from time to time, we're the ones that can identify that something new is wrong with some of the patients, as with us they sometimes forget to put on a brave face and tell us things they don't tell doc Whale or the nurses. And we work with the nuns that run the retirement home and the daycare, as they also volunteer as part-time nurse aides."

Elena looked at the badge clipped to her belt and fixed its position just a tiny bit to give her hands something to do.

"What about that guy?" she asked finally, pointing to the sole occupant of a glass-walled room, hooked up to more machinery than was supporting all the other patients in total.

"Ah. This is our only coma patient. John Doe, as nobody had ever claimed him. He's being kept on the machinery support, all paid for by the Mayor. She said that since we don't know whether he's insured or not, we can't just unplug him and let him die, so she's going to pay all expenses, in hope that in time he wakes up and pays her back."

"That sounds quite decent of her" Elena provided carefully.

"Regina has her bright moments" Mary Margaret admitted. "Usually she is quite a challenge to be around, but she definitely has a soft spot for Roland, and just for that I could probably forgive her any social sin she can commit. Just the way she takes care of him makes me hope for her someday becoming a more likable person. And paying for this patient's expenses - despite making jokes about him paying back - is one more bit of proof that she is, in fact, a human being" she smiled. "I really hope one day she stops biting everyone's heads off at the slightest attempt to get closer to her."

"Miss Blanchard" Regina's voice cut through the relative quiet of the hospital room and Mary Margaret cringed. "I hope the children have someone overseeing their activities, while you're here, chatting with Miss Swan. I don't think the patients would appreciate the noise the whole group of young students can make when not supervised."

"Yes, Madam Mayor. Sister Bieta is keeping an eye on them. I was just showing Elena the areas of the hospital she would be visiting when volunteering."

Regina's lips curved slightly.

"So you're joining the brave team of volunteers, Miss Swan. That's commendable. I hope you have a more reasonable approach to the idea and will keep your attempts at cheering the patients up to a sensible scope. Unlike some."

As she marched by, nurse trailing her with a clipboard full of purchase documentation, Elena could only blink in surprise.

"I think she's bipolar" she said, sipping her scalding hot tea. "That woman in the hospital? Completely different person to the one we met at the house. She looked like the actual embodiment of the Evil Queen."

"What about Henry?" Emma looked at her son's sleeping form on the corner bed.

"He didn't see her, at all. I was kind of worried what he might see, but she never entered the room where the kids were working."

"That's good. He may blurt something out if he sees her like this unprepared - whatever _this_ could be. We must tell him something about his abilities."

"It's not like _we_ know a lot about his abilities."

"Yes, but at least we know some basics of how they work" Emma sighed. "He just thinks he sees stuff and that's it. Sometimes he knows he sees stuff we don't, like with August's leg, but he doesn't know how special that is."

"I'm not sure how to even _start_ " Elsa rubbed her nose. "He is smart and he will start working out other things about magic, once we explain his part."

Elena bowed over the tiny table and rested her forehead against the smooth surface.

"It's too much. I can't make sense out of all this. I can't fall asleep, worrying about all of this... this magical mess. And even when I sleep, I dream of wolves, wizards, witches, wands, capes and weird hairdos. I seriously need more sleep than that, if we are supposed to think logically."

Elsa nodded slowly and closed her eyes.

"I'm mostly dreaming of storms. And high water. And usually I'm on a ship, trying to last long enough to make landfall. I never see the land, and I always wake up when I'm thrown into water. In the dream I can actually _feel_ the cold."

Emma looked at both of them with understanding.

"I'm dreaming of dragons" she said finally, slightly reluctantly. "And swords, magic and bright green light. And in that light there is an island and I know I should be afraid of it."

"Great" Elena mumbled into the tabletop. "We're basically having dreams of a fourteen-year-old who had just discovered Lord of the Rings."

"Except for us it's real _and_ there are no Grey Havens at the end of the story."


End file.
